useful as possible in manning forts at Portland and elsewhere during the emergency, which the Government will explain. Report your action.

JAMES B. FRY,

Provost-Marshal-General.

WAR DEPT. PROVOST-MARSHAL-GENERAL'S OFFICE,

Washington, D. C., July 15, 1864.

His Excellency JOHN A. ANDREW,

Governor of Massachusetts, Boston, Mass.:

SIR: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of July 13, 1864, to the Honorable Secretary of War stating that citizens of Massachusetts are now recruiting a large number of aliens, and desire to put in some of them as substitutes for persons enrolled in anticipation of the next call, and asking that the orders of the War Department in reference to the assignment of substitutes to regiments be so far modified as to permit them to select their regiments. In reply I have to inform you:

First. That by existing orders aliens not subject to draft who voluntarily offer themselves for substitutes will be accepted as substitutes if physically qualified.

Second. That the existing orders are hereby so far modified as to permit alien substitutes to select their regiments, their selection being limited, however, to such regiments as the acting assistant provost-marshal-general of the State may designate as suitable for recruitment in this manner.

I am, sir, very respectfully, your obedient servant,

JAS. B. FRY,

Provost-Marshal-General.

WAR DEPARTMENT, ADJUTANT-GENERAL'S OFFICE,

July 15, 1864.

ADJUTANT-GENERAL OF MISSOURI,

Saint Louis, Mo.:

SIR: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your letter dated March 26, 1864, addressed to Major General F. P. Blair, relative to crediting certain residents of Missouri who have enlisted in Kansas regiments to the first mentioned State. In reply I am directed to inform you that the claim is one that must be adjusted between the State authorities of Kansas and Missouri. The Department cannot take direct action in the matter, but any adjustment between the States concerned will receive careful consideration. The plan of adjustment might be the same as that adopted some time since by the States of Illinois and Missouri through their respective Governors.

I am, sir, very respectfully, your obedient servant,

THOMAS M. VINCENT,

Assistant Adjutant-General.

COLUMBUS, OHIO, July 15, 1864.

Honorable E. M. STANTON,

Secretary of War:

Please answer my dispatches about suspension of the draft in Ohio and the organization of a regiment of representative recruits.

JOHN BROUGH.