The Indianapolis Journal says . . .

. . . it has been informed by the United States Attorney for Indianapolis, that a large number of indictments have been found by the Grand Jury, at the present term, against men for writing letters to friends and relatives in the army, exorting [sic] them to desert, and promising them protection from arrest if they shall desert. The letters, in nearly all cases, have been put into the ands of the authorities by the soldiers themselves, who show by this are affected by the treason instilled into their relatives at home. The trials on these indictments will take place at the next term of the United States Court, and then the writers of such letters may find out that encouraging sons and brothers to desert is a bad business.

– Published in the Stark County News, Toulon, Illinois, Thursday, March 19, 1863