I have been urged by the heads of bureaus for some time past to ask for the return of other clerks of this Department to their duties here, as indispensably necessary to carry on the business of the Department, but have delayed this request, much to the detriment of the service of the Department, on account of the great need of troops to man the trenches. I must therefore ask that you allow those now in the Department to remain on duty in it; and even with them I am greatly embarrassed in the effort to discharge my duties in the absence of the large number of my clerks now in the military service. I ought to add that no one has been appointed to a clerkship in this Department who was able to do military service since the early part of the year 1862, and that fully three-fourths of the clerks of this Department are either men over fifty years of age, ladies, wounded and disabled soldiers, or invalids from some other cause; and fully one-half of them who belong to the Local Defense Troops are either disabled soldiers or invalids from other causes.

The few who are really able to do military duty are men who have been in the Department from the time of its organization in 1861, and nearly all of those had resigned positions in the Post-Office, Department at Washington to accept service in and to contribute their skill and experience to the postal service of the Confederacy. When the local defense organization was gotten up it was understood that the clerks and officers who joined it were only to be called out on special emergencies, and no one contemplated that they were to constitute, as they have since last spring, a part of the Army, and to be withdrawn for months at a time from their proper and necessary duties. I would not trouble you with a statement of these facts but for the reason that they show that the policy being pursued with reference to the clerks of the departments is operating injuriously to them, and should be changed or their usefulness must be destroyed.

If it is determined to make soldiers of the clerks and to deprive the departments of their skill and experience, this should be done, and the departments should know that they must do the best they can without them, and thus avoid paying them their salaries as clerks while using them as soldiers. If not, they should be allowed to continue in the performance of their duties, unless when called out for a few days at time to take their part in any pending battle. It is to be remembered, too, that the departments-at least this one-can, under the law, appoint but a limited number of clerks. It has no authority, therefore, to make appointments in lieu of those sent to the trenches, and the business must in consequence remain unattended to.

I hope you will allow those now in this Department to remain, as I cannot go on without them; and I hope it will be found practicable soon to return the other clerks to their duties in the Department. All the clerks I have named above, whether in the trenches or in the Department, have been, on my application, permanently detailed by the Secretary of War, under General Orders, No. 77, Adjutant and Inspector General's Office.

Very respectfully, your obedient servant,

JOHN H. REAGAN,

Postmaster-General.