our detachments when they are weak, and warn him away from them when
strong. Were the rebel army in Ohio, and as bitterly hated by the people
of that State as the Nationals are by those of Kentucky and Tennessee,
it would be an easy matter indeed to hang upon the skirts of that army,
pick up stragglers, burn bridges, attack wagon trains, and now and then
pounce down on an outlying picket and take it in.

20. Colonel Lytle, my old brigade commander, called on me to-day. He
informed me that he had not been assigned yet. I inferred from this that
he thought it utterly impossible for one so distinguished as himself to
come down to a regiment. His own regiment, the Tenth Ohio, is here, and
nominally a part of my brigade, although it has not acted with it since
Rosecrans assumed command of the Army of the Cumberland. Under
Lieutenant-Colonel Burke, it is doing guard duty at Department
head-quarters.

MARCH, 1863.

1. There is talk of consolidation at Washington. This is a sensible
idea, and should be carried into effect at once. There are too many
officers and too few men. The regiments should be consolidated, and kept
full by conscription, if it can not be done otherwise. The best officers
should be retained, and the others sent home to stand their chances of
the draft.

A major of the Fifteenth Kentucky sent in his resignation a few days
ago, assigning as a reason for so doing that the object of the war was
now the elevation of the negro. The concluding paragraph of his letter
was in these words: "The service can not possibly suffer by my
resignation." The document passed through my hands on its way to
Department head-quarters, and I indorsed it as follows:

"Major H. F. Kalfus, Fifteenth Kentucky Volunteer Infantry, being
'painfully and reluctantly convinced' that the party in power is
disposed to elevate the negro, desires to quit the service. I trust he
will be allowed to do so, and cheerfully certify to the correctness of
one statement which he makes herein, to-wit: The service can not
possibly suffer by his resignation."

General Rosecrans has just sent me an order to arrest the Major, and
send him under guard to the Provost-Marshal General. The arrest will be
made in a few minutes, and may create some excitement among our Kentucky
friends.

3. The fortifications are progressing. The men work four hours each day
in the trenches. The remainder of the time they spend pretty much as
they see fit.

Gene