be able to enlist throughout the country, will secure material to make a first-class regiment."

I thanked the governor but said that these men were recruited for the 32d O. V. Infantry where they already had a large number of friends, and as they were not as yet mustered in they might refuse to go. "Not very likely," replied the governor, "as all boys like to ride horseback." "Besides," I said, "I know very little about the cavalry service, and have a poor opinion of it from what I have seen." "You know a horse when you see one?" he asked with a twinkle in his eye." "I was brought up on a farm," I said. "That is about as much as any of them can say," he replied.

This order from the governor explains how I became a cavalryman. I was censured at the time by boys of the 32d O. V. I. and their friends at home. for leaving the regiment, but afterwards when they had learned how little a soldier in the service has to do with his own disposal, any feeling that they may have had was forgotten. And by the time the war closed the company was better and more efficiently officered under Captain Mills than when I was taken from it. I am glad to say that my name is still borne upon its muster roll and called at the annual reunion of the survivors as Captain Hamilton to which I am proud to answer whenever I can.

On October 1st, 1862, "Camp Zanesville" was opened to receive the drafted men. Recruiting officers from regiments in the field arrived to secure

men to fill vacancies in their respective commands. The Governor issued, as I recommended from time to time, commissions for recruiting the Ninth Ohio Volunteer Cavalry. Skeletons of the different companies were made up, and recruiting was prosecuted vigorously.

The Tenth Ohio Volunteer Cavalry was assigned to Captain Smith of the regular army, to be recruited at Cleveland.

On November 1st I received an order from Adjutant General Hill to report the number of recruits I had in camp. This I interpreted literally, understanding it not to include the fifty-three infantry volunteers and a number of new recruits living in the county, to whom I had given leave to visit their homes. until called for. I reported six hundred and forty men, embraced in seven companies, which I had organized. I then received an order to send three of my companies, "A", "B" and "C" to report to Captain Smith of the Tenth O. V. C. at Cleveland. singular and unexpected order was explained by the fact that Governor Tod had received a "Hurry" call from Washington for a regiment of cavalry, and as Captain Smith had reported seven hundred recruits, he could, with the three companies from me, take the field before I could.

This

This is the only instance during the war in which I felt that I had not received fair play from the Government. The Tenth Ohio Volunteer Cavalry was now completed and fully organized which enabled Cap

tain Smith to be mustered as a Colonel of Cavalry and remain on detached duty at Washington while his regiment served through the war under command of Lt. Colonel Sanderson.

My new companies, as "A", "B", "C", and "D" were organized as the First Battalion of the Ninth Ohio Volunteer Cavalry, the first named company being composed of Muskingum County men, including the fifty-three originally recruited for the Thirtysecond Infantry.

On November 15th I was ordered to Camp Dennison, and on the 19th of November the battalion was mustered and commissions were issued as follows:

We received our horses and full cavalry equipment with blankets and clothing for the men, and the ensuing four months were devoted to drilling horses and men, as well as officers, in the line of their duty.

CHAPTER 8.

The Knights of the Golden Circle.-Service in East Kentucky. - East Tennessee Scout.

While recruiting at Zanesville, a young man about my own age, whom I knew slightly, called on me, saying he had concluded to enter the service, and thought that he would like to join my command. I was a little surprised, and felt somewhat complimented, he was above the average in intelligence and ambition. He had been something of a politician and a disciple of Vallandigham, whose influence in opposition to the war had made the draft necessary in Ohio.

Among my recruits were a number of drafted men who had become volunteers for the privilege of choosing the regiment in which they should serve. told this young man that I would be glad to have him with me, that while he would have to come as a private, I would see that his worth was properly recognized. He said that was all he wanted, and so I took his name. Later on I appointed him acting quartermaster sergeant, and he proved energetic in supplying the men with proper clothing to protect them during the extremely cold weather of the January that followed.

One morning the assistant I had given him came to my quarters and handed me an unfinished letter, the substance of which was as follows:

"DEAR JAKE:

I have been here now about two months, and have made the friendly acquaintance of most of the men of this command. Many of them were drafted. They don't like the drill nor their officers, and complain that they can hardly keep from freezing. I feel sure that when I get the word, I can bring with me more than half the men fully armed."

When we remember the secret intrigues of the agents of the confederacy in Canada about this time. to liberate the rebel prisoners confined at Johnson's Island and elsewhere, the significance of this paper can be realized.

I asked the soldier who brought the letter to explain it. He said that the sergeant was writing at his desk when one of the boys came to get a blanket. The sergeant hastily crumpled up the sheet he was writing on and threw it in the stove as he went to get the blanket.

"I had just put some fresh coal in the stove", he said, "and so got it out before it took fire."

"Why did you do that?" I inquired.

"Well," said he, "I don't understand the sergeant. He does a good deal of writing that he is very careful about it and seems to have secret talks with some of the men."

"Do you know of any dissatisfaction among the men?" I asked.