the Treasury Department, upon application of the War Department, to take charge of them as abandoned property.

I have the honor to be, very respectfully,

M. C. MEIGS,

Quartermaster-General and Brevet Major-General.

HEADQUARTERS ARMIES OF THE UNITED STATES,
Washington, D. C., May 19, 1865.

Brigadier General B. W. BRICE,

Paymaster-General of the Army:

GENERAL: The lieutenant-general desires to know about what time the troops in and around Richmond, and the armies commanded respectively by Generals Sherman and Meade, and now in the vicinity of Washington, will be paid.

Will you please furnish the desired information?

Very respectfully, your obedient servant,

JNO. A. RAWLINS,

Brigadier-General and Chief of Staff.

WAR DEPARTMENT, PAYMASTER-GENERAL'S OFFICE,

Washington, May 20, 1865.

General JOHN A. RAWLINS,

Chief of Staff, &c.:

SIR: Yours of yesterday this moment received, and I have the honor to reply:

All the efforts of the Treasury have been directed for the past two weeks to the means necessary for the final payment of troops ordered to be mustered out, amounting, according to the Adjutant- General's lists, to about 123,000 men, all told. The payment of these, with the large arrears due, the large bounties due, and three months" extra to officers, will require about $50,000,000.

These payments will be met promptly and without peradventure, the Treasury having very nearly, if not quite, met the emergency.

It will depend upon the ability of the Treasury entirely as to the time when the payments about which you inquire can be made. I will have an early conference with the officers of that Department and endeavor to give you an early response.

In addition to the forces named, I regret to say that General Thomas" command, in the West, is yet unpaid since August 31 last. The Army of the Potomac and troops about Richmond have been paid to December 31. Therefore, after Sherman's army, paid to August 31, Thomas" should be next paid. All these payments you will readily perceive will require a very large sum of money to be yet provided. I have the honor to be, very respectfully, your obedient servant,

B. W. BRICE,

Paymaster-General U. S. Army.

WAR DEPARTMENT, ADJUTANT-GENERAL'S OFFICE,

May 20, 1865.

GOVERNOR OF MAINE:

Under the regulations established by the Secretary of War and the orders from this office based thereon, troops about to be discharged