[Indorsement.]

PROVOST-MARSHAL-GENERAL'S OFFICE, Washington, D. C., January 22, 1865.

Respectfully returned with report as required.

I believe there is no dispute as to the following fact in regard to the rendezvous established by the General Government at Gallupe's Island, Boston, Harbor, viz:

First. That it is sufficiently large to contain all the recruits that it is necessary to have in depot at any one time.

Second. That it is kept in good condition and is a fit and proper place for veterans as well as other recruits, and that it is decidedly economical for the Government to send recruits there instead of establishing other rendezvous for the same purpose.

Third. That it is well commanded, guarded, and supplied, and that the men when obtained are not so likely to be lost from there as from rendezvous on the mainland, where adequate guards cannot be supplied. I know that among some veteran and perhaps other good recruits there is a prejudice against this rendezvous, but I attribute it mainly to the fact that many very objectionable men representing a variety of nationalities and languages, and often of decidedly bad character, have been enlisted and sent to that rendezvous, and they have given it a bad name. I think it would be better for the service to try, by enlisting and sending to it a better class of men, to improve the reputation of the rendezvous than to recognize it as a place unfit for the assembling of all those recruits who will so soon be thrown together in the Army.

To establish other rendezvous so long as this one is in condition to accommodate all the troops likely to be raised seems to be putting the Government to unnecessary expense merely to humor a prejudice on the part of recruits, which it seems to me might be soon removed by careful attention on the part of all to the character of the men presented and accepted as substitutes and volunteer recruits.

JAMES B. FRY,

Provost-Marshal-General.

STATE OF MINNESOTA, EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT,

Saint Paul, January 16, 1865.

Honorable E. M. STANTON,

Secretary of War, Washington, D. C.:

SIR: On the 3rd instant I received notice from Brigadier-General Fry, through the acting assistant provost-marshal-general of Minnesota, that after deducting all credits to the State the quota of Minnesota, including the late call of the President, was 5,978 men, to wit: First District, 2,411; Second District, 3,567; total, 5,978. This calculation is so evidently erroneous and would be so oppressive upon the people of this patriotic and sparsely-settled State that, in addition to my letter of the 3rd instant to the Provost-Marshal-General, I respectfully appeal to you for prompt relief in the premises, and base the application upon the following facts: The quota of Minnesota upon former calls has never exceed about 1,100 men to the 100,000 required. That of August last upon the call for 500,000 men was 5,561. According to this data our proportion of the 300,00 men now called for would be 3,336; and if we are to be charged with the deserters or delinquents upon the July draft we were indebted to the United