REPORT OF COL. YOUNG. THE STATE OF OHIO, EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT, His Excellency, DAVID TOD, Governor of Ohio: SIR-In obedience to your order, I have carefully examined the voluminous. correspondence of this Department, since the adjournment of the Legislature, and herewith present you copies of such letters, dispatches, proclamations and orders issued by you, as I think will prove of interest to the people of our Sate. They are arranged under appropriate heads, and in the order of their respective dates. Presuming that Col. M. Welker will attach to his Report all the orders relating. to the draft, I have not included them in those herewith submitted. Your orders in relation to the care of our sick and wounded soldiers, have been placed in the hands of Dr. G. C. E. Weber, Surgeon-General, and will appear in • his Report. Very respectfully, Your obedient, servant, GENTLEMEN:-The vigorous ccöperation of this Department is asked by the War Department, in returning to duty the large number of soldiers now absent from their Regiments in the field; and I know of no method better calculated to promptly comply with this request, than to solicit your aid in the matter. Every soldier fit for duty should now share in the dangers and glories of the field. The soldier that voluntarily absents himself from duty, is by the terms of General Orders No. 65, deemed a deserter, and is therefore liable to all the penalties attached to desertion, and sooner or later these penalties are certain to be inflicted. It is therefore our duty to the soldier himself, that we rescue him from this impending punishment. The duty I ask of you is, that you have your county thoroughly canvassed, and every soldier found therein hunted up, and their names reported to me. The arduous duties I have heretofore asked of you, make me hesitate in thus further taxing your generosity, but when you remember that public "necessity knows no law," I trust you will pardon this further demand upon you. Very respectfully, Your obedient servant, DAVID TOD, Governor. THE STATE OF OHIO. EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT, Hon E. M. Stanton, Secretary of War: DEAR SIR-I have heretofore called your attention to the lamentable condition of the 2d Ohio Cavalry, but must beg your attention one moment further on the subject. I am glad to know that Col. Salomon and his advisers and brother officers, many of whom are from Ohio, are to be tried for the high-handed act of arresting Col. Wier, but I beg, in God's name, that Ohio's brave and gallant boys have a fair trial. Without your intervention, I have reason to fear that such will not be the case. The authorities in Kansas do not command my confidence. Allow me then to ask that you send a commission of officers, noways implicated or interested in the matter, to hear and determine the controversy upon its merits alone. Respectfully yours, DAVID TOD. To E P. Buckingham, Present: THE STATE OF OHIO EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT, SIR-Complaints having reached me that serious difficulties now exist among our paroled Union prisoners at Camp near Chicago, I have to direct that you proceed at once to that point and inquire into the matter. You will ascertainFirst-The number of Ohio troops at that point, officers and privates. Second-The Regiments to which they belong. Third-The number of sick and wounded, if any. Fourth-The manner in which they are cared for, both the sick and well. You will say to all whom you may meet, that although I am extremely solicitous that they have every care and attention due to brave and gallant soldiers, I am equally anxious hat they maintain their high character for discipline and good conduct, while at Camp Douglas. When you shall have accomplished the purposes of your mission, you will report in person to me. Yours, &c., DAVID TOD, Governor. THE STATE OF OHIO, EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT, Col. L. P. Buckley, 29th Regt O. V 1, Frederick City, Md.: DEAR SIR-I am surprised to learn from 21 Lieut. William Nelson, that you neglect to assign him to duty in your Regiment. The power of appointing officers rests solely in this Department. It is therefore the duty of all good officers to submit, without murmur, to the exercise of this power. Aside from this, however, the appointment of Lieut. Nelson was to save your Regiment from consolidation with another, for it was made upon the express con dition only, that he take with hin recruits for the Regiment. I fully appreciate the claim that the men, belonging to the Regiment, have upon me for positions, and no man can do more than I have done to observe and protect that claim; but when it became necessary, to preserve the existence of the Regiment, that I should depart from this rule, and appoint outsiders upon condition that they obtain recruits, and thus preserve its existence, no man connected with the Regiment should take exceptions to it. You must therefore give Lieut. Nelson his command. Respectfully yours, DAVID TOD, Governor. THE STATE OF OHIO. EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT, John M. Fuller, Col. 27th Regt. Q. V. 1., Ripley, Miss.: DEAR COLONEL-I have the pleasure to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 9th instant, accompanying the bloody Flag of the 9th Texas Regiment, captured by the gallant Orrin B. Gould, a private of Company G in your Regiment, in the great Battle fought on the 4th inst, near Corinth. The brave and daring act of Gould, when made known to the loyal people of our State, will fill their hearts with joy and gratitude. I am pained to learn that the wound received by this hero proved fatal, and that he is no longer in the land of the living, to enjoy the rich reward due to his gallantry. But, although dead, I have determined to give to his relatives and brother soldiers, evidence of my appreciation of his noble conduct; and therefore herewith inclose you a commission for him as Captain in your Regiment, of the date of your great Battle, October 4th, 1862. The bloody Flag sent me, I have given a prominent position, in the room in the State House, appropriated to the keeping of the many trophies taken on the field of battle, by the brave and loyal hearts from Ohio, and, as the most fitting account of our possession of this trophy, I attach your elegant and manly letter to the Flag. In this connection, allow me to assure you, and the brave men under your command, that the noble bearing and gallantry of your Regiment, on that bloody field, is fully appreciated by the people of Ohio. Make this known to the heroes of your Regiment, and assure them, that when this war is over, and our glorious old flag can again float over every inch of the territory possessed by the United States, and they thus permitted to return to their homes they love so much, they will receive the hearty greetings of all who appreciate our glorious institutions. Very truly yours, DAVID TOD, Governor. To Col. THE STATE OF OHIO, EXECUTIVE Department, Regt. O. V. I.: DEAR SIR-The mode adopted by the War Department for the filling of old Regiments, does not meet with the success desired. The great trouble is that the recruiting officers sent home have their commissions in their pockets, and thus situated, encounter at every corner recruiting officers who have their commissions to earn. There has been recruited in this State within the past three and a half months, over 65,000 men, four-fifths of whom have gone into new Regiments, notwithstanding I have used every exertion in my power in behalf of the recruiting officers of the old Regiments. If commanders of Regiments in the field would send home non-commissioned officers or privates, with the request to me that I give them commissions, upon condition that they recruit a given number of men, within a time to be specified, I think the difficulty would be obviated. I have in several instances appointed men at home upon these conditions, but to my great surprise the commanders of the Regiments, although willing to take the men they brought with them, have refused to assign the officer to duty. It is to be expected that the War Department will not delay much longer for the work of filling up the old Regiments, hence to save consolidation, it is indispensably necessary that prompt and active measures be taken to fill them up. That I may have the commissions at my disposal, provided the mode herein. suggested meets with your approbation, I will postpone the filling of any vacancies in your Regiment, until I hear from you. Very respectfully yours, DAVID TOD, Governor. THE STATE OF OHIO, EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT, COLUMBUS, Nov. 7, 1862. Lt. Col. E. W. Hollingsworth, 19th Regt. O, V. I., Columbia, Ky. : DEAR SIR-Your letter of the 1st inst. by Lt. Case is before me. I am surprised, Colonel, that you should be so short-sighted as not to second my efforts in filling up your Regiment. To save the existence of your Regiment, and thereby the official existence of yourselves, I appointed Lt. Case a 24 Lt., upon condition that he recruit 30 men for your Regiment, and take them with him. He could much more easily have earned a position for himself by recruiting for a new Regiment, but my fear that the gallant old 19th might be attached to some other old Regiment, and thereby strike from the rolls its brave officers, induced me to urge him to recruit for it. Notwithstanding the bad taste of your letter, I have ordered Lt. Case to return to you agaia, and ask of you that you either assign him to duty or give him up his men, that he may find a place in some other old Regiment, the officers of which may be able to appreciate that the Secretary of War will not keep Regiments in the field simply to make places for officers. Respectfully yours, DAVID TOD, Governor. THE STATE OF OHIO, EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT, Col. J. G. Hawkins, 13th Regiment O. V. I., Silver Springs, Tenn. : SIR: Deeply as I regret to differ with you, I cannot comply with your wishes as to Lieut. Charles Crawford. To preserve the existence of your regiment, as I supposed, I off red this young man the position of Second Lieutenant, upon the express condition that he recruit a given number of men within a time specified. In thus doing, I supposed that I was laboring for the interests of your regiment, and therein for the best interests of the Government. Lieut. Crawford more than performed his part of the agreement -he recruited fifty-two men; and you must not interfere with its performance on my part. Very respectfully yours, DAVID TOD, Governor. THE STATE OF Oпto, EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT, Col. John T. Toland, 34th Regiment O. V. I., Mouth of Soup Creek, Va. : DEAR SIR: Your letter of the 30th ult., returning the envelope which inclosed the commissions of Major Shaw and others, is before me. I regret to notice the bad temper evinced in your letter. It is true that the 6-PART I-Ex. Doc. 70 address upon the envelope is not in the handwriting of any of the clerks of this Department; but as this reflects only upon the clerks of the Department, it is a matter with which you had nothing to do. The commissions inclosed were genuine, and the appointments were made in strict conformity with the rule adopted early in my administration, viz. : "Promotions of commissioned officers will be by seniority in the regiment, unless for special reasons an exception is made to the rule." Capt. Shaw was the senior Captain, and hence came within the rule, unless for cause shown. It is true that, under date of October 15th, in recommending a number of officers for promotion, you named Capt. Anderson for Major, and, in thus doing, passed by five Captains that outranked him; but as you gave no especial reason for thus doing, I did not feel at liberty to depart from my rule. You will, I hope, be glad to know, from this statement, that neither "local politicians" nor" discharged or paroled officers loafing about Columbus" have had any thing to do with these promotions, and hence will, I hope, continue to aid me in providing for the best interests of your regiment. Very respectfully yours, DAVID TOD, Governor. COLUMBUS, OHIO, May 23, 1862. To Hon. E. M. Stanton, Secretary of War, Washington City, D. C.: Assuming that you wish to fill up the regiments in the field, allow me to suggest that full companies be made from the men now fit for service in the field, and that the company officers of the companies thus broken up be sent home to recruit entire new companies for their old regiments, giving them forty days to do the work, and upon failure of success, revoke their commissions; the organization of the regiments remaining in the mean time intact. You thus secure experienced officers for the new recruits, and save the accumulation of officers and expense. I am executing your order to raise a new regiment with dispatch. To the Press of the State: DAVID TOD, Governor. COLUMBUS, OHIO, July 28, 1862. The attention of the several military committees is especially directed to the importance of filling up the regiments now in the field. It is more important that this be done promptly, than that the new regiments be filled up. In apportioning the troops asked for among the several counties of the State, it was expected that each county would furnish its quota of men for the regiments in the field. To Gen. C. P. Buckingham, Washington, D. C.: DAVID TOD, Governor. COLUMBUS, OHIO, Aug. 1, 1862. Recruiting for the new regiments is progressing finely; but, for the want of recruiting officers, I can do but little for the old regiments. The Colonels of the several regiments should either send home recruiting non-commissioned cfficers, with the assurance that I would commission them on their raising the usual number of men, or request me to appoint men at home. Allow me to call your attention to my dispatch of May twenty-third (23), upon this subject. DAVID TOD, Governor. |