overworked, as evinced by the mortality list. The men will receive pay for part of their time, but as regards myself and some other officers who were promoted, a recent letter from Major Larned informs me that there is no prospect of pay unless a bill passes the senate, or unless we are ordered on duty by a general of the U. S. Army. It is exactly six months to-day since the Governor honored me by promotion from a lieutenant-colonelcy in the Fifteenth Indiana Volunteers, and I left Western Virginia on an order from general reynolds and have ever since been more actively engaged than during that campaign (although present in all the engagements of our brigade), besides incurring great expense, because recruiting is now so much more difficult than it was formerly. I have never spent one night from camp since I was ordered here, nor entered a hotel or saloon since my arrival. After a heavy day's work I sometimes at night retire to my camp cot without divesting myself of either coat or boots on order to be ready at the slightest noise for my responsible and onerous duties.

All this is stated not by way of complaint but simply to show that I discharge my various duties to the best of my ability. That I committed an error (in trusting some officers to take a few prisoners down on two different days to make purchases, with the promise that the privilege should be used for no other purpose) I now see was the case, because the promise was violated by permitting some of them to enter a saloon. The order as soon as the violation was known was promlty countermanded. But the fact that a rigid call each morning discloses only thirteen prisoners escaped from the camp proper (some of whom have since been recaptured and placed in jail) out of over 4,200 seems to me to speak favorably both for the vigilance of the sentinels and for the disposition of the guarded. Indeed a large majority of the prisoners at my suggestion signed papers pledging their honors not to endeavor to escape.

As already stated the above onerous duties have been performed without complaining, but we signified to Governor Morton our gratitude in advance should he relieve us from a position in which any want of success was certain to bring censure and the best management unlikely to gain us the slightest credit. As early as a year since I already offered my life to assist in sustaining the Government in the struggle to maintain the supremacy of the law, aeans were left I would now gladly sacrifice the remnant of that life to restore to our distracted country such a peace as would bring with it the original strength and harmony of our glorious Republic. That we must establish and prove the power and permanence of the General Governmentis certain, but that the sooner we can reconcile differences by avoiding ultraism the greater the chance for our securing again soon a powerful and united nation seems equally certain.

Very respectfully,

RICHARD OWEN,

Colonel Sistieth Indiana, Commanding Post.

[EDITORIAL COMMENTS OF THE JOURNAL.]

In our notice of the unusual occurrence at Camp Morton and the causes that produced it we did not imply that the Governor had "failed to select a suitable person to take charge of the prisoners. " In the general management of the military prison, involving as it does great labor, patience and prudence, Colonel Owen has given entire satisfaction to the authorities and the public, and we have uniformly commended him as a patriotic, energetic and painstaking officer. The