STATE OF INDIANA,

OFFICE ACTG. ASST. PROVOST-MARSHAL-GENERAL,

Indianapolis, Ind., October 29, 1863.

Colonel JAMES B. FRY,

Provost-Marshal-General:

SIR: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your communication of the 26th instant, with printed circular letters relative to recruiting for the old regiments of this State, bearing date the 22nd instant and addressed to the district provost-marshals, respectively.

Pursuant to your directions I have had a conference with His Excellency Governor Morton on the subject and we both concur in the opinion that it would not now be expedient to put that part of the scheme for recruiting set forth in the printed circular into effect which proposes to pay a premium for recruits to the deputized persons contemplated by the circular. The reason for this is that Governor Morton has already devised and put into operation a system of county and township committees through which the people will be addressed and stirred up to the performance of their duties toward the Government, and nearly all of this labor will be performed without compensation, and a few deputized persons would receive pay for obtaining recruits to the obtaining of whom they would not have contributed as others who labored for the good of the cause. In addition to this it would create a discrimination against the eleven new regiments now being raised, and as one non-commissioned officer or private from each company is to be detailed to recruit for the old regiments it would discourage them if they saw these deputies getting from $15 to $25 for each recruit whilst no premium was allowed to them. As the work of raising the new regiments has been commenced and is now progressing, and the expense of opening camps and erecting temporary barracks has been incurred, it is highly important that these regiments should be raised. Governor Morton, whose means of knowledge are far better than my own, assures me that he has no doubt of his ability to raise the eleven new regiments. It will be necessary, however, that the time for raising the regiments should be extended for thirty or forty days, as the time during which the increased bounty for recruits in the new regiments will be paid is limited to the 10th day of November. I earnestly recommend that the time during which this increased bounty for recruits for the new regiments will be paid be extended without delay, as some of the persons engaged in recruiting are discouraged, knowing as they do that they cannot fill their regiments by the 10th of November and fearing that the increased bounties will not be paid after that date. By the time the details from the old regiments for the recruiting service arrive it is hoped and believed that the new regiments will be full or nearly so, and hence there will be little competition between them.

I will not issue the circular letter to the district provost- marshals until further instructed by you.

Respectfully, your obedient servant,

CONRAD BAKER,

Colonel and Actg. Asst. Prov. March General for Indiana.

[OCTOBER 28, 1863.-For General Sherman's General Orders, Numbers 4, authorizing impressment of citizens into the military service, see Series I, Vol. XXXI, Part I, p. 767.]

60 R R-SERIES III, VOL III