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Executive Office Fort Gibson Cherokee Nation Dec. 12 1864

To) Major J. Harlan} Ind. Agent for Cherokees}

Honored Sir.

                     I beg leave very respectively to address you & through you the proper Department of U.S. Government with regard to reorganizing the Cherokee Regiments.  And 
                      First permit me to state that the great mass of the able bodied men of the Cherokee Nation are in the military service of the United States constituting the 2nd & 3rd Regts of Indian Home Guards. This reduces the laboring men of the Nation to so small a number that they are entirely inadequate to the production of food sufficient image-letters crossed out to meet the necessities of the country. 
                      I will further state the term of service for which most of these men have enlisted expires about mid summer of next year- & there are scarcely any of them whose term extend beyond strike through- the fall of next strike through- year fall. If they are obliged to serve out the term of their enlistment [^& are discharged at its close]] they will be [[strike out- thrown out of employment}}  unable to put in any crops strike out- in the coming spring & yet will be thrown out of employment for the greater part of the year.   Thus they will be unable to raise supplies for ^themselves their families & will not receive their present pay which enables them to some small extent to purchase the necessities of life.     The distance to ^any place where supplies can be obtained is so great,& traveling is hazardous, that to obtain food from abroad is almost an improbability. Thus our people will be subjected to the same frightful suffering they experienced for the two last years while the US Government will

(note- the entry below within brackets is a separate piece of paper underneath the original letter. It has three vertical lines drawn through the writing) [[the first day of march next. my reasons for making this request in my opinion are abundantly sufficient reason [strike out- the following]. 1st The term of service of most of the members of the Regiments expires [unclear] about midsummer of next year. The time of almost all [scratch out- of them] will [scratch out- number is very small whose term of service will not ext] expire next fall. If they are obliged to [unclear] the term of enlistment they will be unable to [unclear] ]]