Thirty-seventh, which has just been authorized, if I can have thirty days longer time, or even an extension up to the 10th of March.

I would therefore very earnestly request that, if possible, the draft be postponed and the large bounty be continued for the time specified in the memorial, or at least that you use your influence to have the bounty continued until the time of draft.

Respectfully,

JAMES T. LEWIS.

CIRCULAR
WAR DEPT., PROV. March GENERAL'S OFFICE, Numbers 7.
Washington, February 27, 1864.

I. Boards of enrollment will at once commence to prepare cards for draft of men enrolled, including the second class. The cards will be uniform in shape, size, and color with those of the first class, and will contain the name and residence of the person enrolled, with the number which is opposite his name on the enrollment lists.

II. The names of persons stricken from the lists, either of class 1 or 2, under the provisions of Circular 101, dated November 17, 1863, will not be placed in the box or wheel; nor the names of those who were drafted and held to service, or paid commutation, or furnished a substitute under the preliminary part of the draft in 1863.

The names of those known to be actually in service at the date of receipt of the order for the draft will also be left out of the box or wheel. The names of all other persons enrolled will be put in the draft box.

JAMES B. FRY,

Provost-Marshal-General.

NOTE.-Amended circular-The one of the same number previously issued to be destroyed.

LOUISVILLE, KY., February 27, 1864.

Honorable EDWIN M. STANTON,

Secretary of War:

I arrived here this morning. In my letter of the 1st instant I requested instructions respecting the First Artillery Regiment Colored Troops, to be raised at Paducah, Ky. Shall I proceed with its organization? I will await your instructions here. It is very important that I should proceed down the Mississippi as soon as possible. I hope still to be able to provide for the vast amount of work to be returned on our hands. If the Treasury agent should insist on carrying out his regulations for leasing abandoned plantations and furnishing hands, none of the blacks can be provided for. If, however, the scale of wages and the regulations adopted by Superintendent Eaton, approved by Major-General Grant and myself, be adopted, and the control be continued by the military authorities, there is yet time to lease plantations by the Treasury agent and provide for a vast amount of labor. May I request an early reply?

Very respectfully, your obedient servant,

L. THOMAS,

Adjutant-General U. S. Army.