WASHINGTON, September 11, 1864 — 7.55 p.m.
Lieutenant-General
GRANT:
It is not designed
by this department to delay the draft a single day after the credits are made
up and quota ascertained. The Provost-Marshal-General has been directed to lose
no time in that work. It is represented that the first recruits were a hard
lot, but that recently the volunteers are equal to any that have taken the
field during the war. The local authorities have been slack in paying their
bounties and this has occasioned some delay. I would be glad if you would send
me a telegram for publication, urging the necessity of immediately filling up
the army by draft. The most difficulty is likely to be in Ohio, Indiana, and
Illinois, from the desire of candidates to retain their men until after the
election. We have not got a single regiment from Indiana. Morton came here
specially to have the draft postponed, bur was peremptorily refused. But the
personal interest to, retain men until after the election requires every effort
to procure troops in that State, even by draft. Illinois is much the same way.
Not a regiment or even company there has been organized. A special call from
you would aid the department in overcoming the local inertia and personal
interests that favor delay.
EDWIN M. STANTON,
Secretary of War.
SOURCE: The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the
Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series I, Volume 42,
Part 2 (Serial No. 88), p. 783-4
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