would repeat here the expression of my hope that you will take the same view of their situation.

Yours, very respectfully,

A. W. BRADFORD.

[Inclosure.]

At a meeting of the mayor an council of Hagestown, held and assembled on Monday, September 19, 1864, it was, among other things, ordered:

That the following facts be addressed to the Honorable the Secretary of War and the Honorable the Provost-Marshal of the United States in behalf of the people and citizens of Hagestown, and generally of Washington County, to wit:

That the people and citizens of Washington County, and especially of the Hagerstown district, are wholly unprepared to meet the approaching daft, and ought to be allowed further time to prepare for the same, for the following reasons, to wit:

That whilst all other sections of the State and country have, since the last call of the President for men and soldiers, enjoyed the most perfect peace and tranquillity, and have thus been enabled measurably to fill up their respective quotas, the people and citizens of Washington County, and especially of the Hagerstown district, have not only been constantly threatened and alarmed by the presence of a daring and imposing force of the public enemy on their border, but their county, and especially Hagerstown, has been he heater of invasions, raids, and strife by the enemy from early in the month of July until the middle of August, during which time the enemy five times invaded the county and four times took and held actual possession of Hagestown, the county seat. That during all this time business of every description was utterly suspended, industry prostrated, all the employments of life were neglected, and, more than all, large amounts of stock, grain, merchandise, ad produce were carried off, leaving a helpless people utterly destitute, and in many instances impoverishing and utterly ruining in whole families.

In consequence of this state of affairs the business tone of the community has sensibly and sadly diminished; hundreds of active, prominent, and energetic citizens have left homes and employments, where ruin only attended their industry, and have permanently located elsewhere, and a perceptible diminution of population meets us on every hand.

It is further represented, after the most careful examinations, that over $80,000 worth of money, property, and produce has, during these raids and invasions, been carried off from the H further represented that Washington County, and, especially the Hagerstown district, has always been among the first and foremost in the whole country in responding to the call of the General Government for men and soldiers for the war, and that on all other occasions prompt and efficient measures a taken by the citizens and public corporate authorities have supplied the several quotas for the county, and especially for the Hagerstown sub-district, speedily and without delay.

But owing to the general causes above enumerated, it was wholly out of the power of the people to take efficient and timely steps to prepare to meet them duly under the present call, whilst other communities were in the peaceful and uninterrupted enjoyment of all the means and appliances of meeting the call.

47 R R-SERIES III, VOL IV