Headquarters 23D Regt. O. V.,
Camp Green Meadows, Mercer County, Virginia,
July 31, 1862.
Sir: — I am
this day in receipt of Special Orders No. 716, dated Adjutant-General's Office,
Columbus, Ohio, July 21, 1862, directed to me at Cincinnati, authorizing me to
assist in raising one of the new regiments now forming in Ohio. I shall apply
for leave of absence by today's mail for the purpose of entering upon the
service indicated in the order.
It is proper to add that, although fully sensible of the
importance of rapid recruiting, I would not ask leave of absence from duty in
the field for that purpose, if there was any immediate prospect of active
operations here.
Respectfully,
R. B. Hayes,
Lieutenant-colonel
Twenty-third Regt., O. V.
Commanding.
Brigadier-general C.
W. Hill,
Adjutant-general Ohio.
SOURCE: Charles Richard Williams, editor, Diary and
Letters of Rutherford Birchard Hayes, Volume 2, p. 314
