present about 16,000; no escapes reported from guards furnished by the regiment. Since the close of the war the Twentieth has been divided among various posts, performing everywhere as much duty as is ever demanded of able-bodied men.

Twenty-first Regiment. - Has performed duty at Trenton, Philadelphia, Pittsburg, Baltimore, Washington, Albany, and Indianapolis, in detachments of one or more companies, guarding camps of rendezvous, public property, rebel prisoners, and escorting soldiers of various classes to the front. It has had in charge 2,511 stragglers and deserters, 3,684 drafted men and substitutes, 32,122 recruits, and 6,000 rebel prisoners, being a total of 44,317 men, with 341 escapes. At camps guarded by this regiment volunteers to the number of 461 officers and 12,880 men have been mustered out of service.

Twenty-second Regiment. - On duty by detachments, chiefly in Indiana, but also in Illinois, Ohio, Wisconsin, Connecticut, and Maryland, guarding camps of rendezvous, military prisons, public stores, and escorting rebel prisoners, recruits for the Union armies, & c. Conscripts forwarded, 15,000; recruits, 13,575; deserters, 1,019; with a total loss of 28. Rebel prisoners guarded, 23,003; none reported escaped. Deserters from the draft and persons engaged in resisting it arrested in Indiana and Illinois. One squad killed a rebel recruiting officer, wounded 1 of his men, and captured 16, with a large amount of stolen goods, counterfeit money, and arms.

Twenty-third Regiment. - Duty in Wisconsin, Minnesota, Missouri, Kentucky, and Iowa. Company A has escorted over 500 men for the Army, losing so far as known but 5. Company B has escorted 500 rebel prisoners and over 3,000 recruits, deserters, & c., with no escapes to report. The train from Louisville to Lebanon repeatedly attacked by guerrillas; was successfully defeated by a detachment of this company. The company defeated one band of bushwhackers, killing its leader, Captain Mitchell, wounding several of his followers, and capturing 10 horses, with a loss to the company of 2 men wounded. Twenty-three men of the company routed a band of 48 guerrillas, killing and wounding 23 men and capturing 26 horses. The Indian prisoners at Davenport, Iowa, 500 in number, were guarded by Company G. The other companies have performed their full share of labor in the ordinary duties of the corps.

Twenty-fourth Regiment. - In Washington as a part of the garrison of Washington, performing its full share of duties. No statistical report.

From the foregoing incomplete report of the services of the First Battalion during a single year an inference may be drawn as to the services of the entire corps during the entire period of its existence. It should be considered that the latter six months of the year in question have been a period of peace, no troops being forwarded to the front and few prisoners remaining on hand to be guarded, while the numerical strength of the organization has diminished from 28,738 to less than 8,000. It is believed that an equal number of able-bodied volunteers could not have performed the garrison, provost, and hospital duties of the Army more thoroughly than they have been performed by this body of invalids. In economy, both of men and money, the advantage of the Veteran Reserve Corps to the country has been enormous and obvious. To employ an invalid at $ 13 a month, with rations and clothing, obtaining from him the service of a healthy man, is certainly better than to pension him at $ 8 a month, receiving no return whatever, and hiring an able-bodied man