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� Headquarters Army of the Potomac Camp near Sharpsburg Md, October 4, 1862

To His Excellency the Governor of the State of Maine,

Sir, In view of the reduced and shattered condition of the Seventh Regiment of Maine Volunteers, the result of arduous service and [?] during the campaigns on the Peninsula and in Maryland I made on the 2nd [nd underlined] [?] a special application to the War Department that the regiment should be sent to report to you in Maine that it might be recruited and reorganized under your personal supervision. I yesterday received the necessary authority; and as you will observe, by the copy of Special Order No 271. from the Head Quarters enclosed herein. I send the regiment to you for the purpose indicated, I beg that when this purpose shall have been accomplished that the regiment may be ordered to report to me with all practicable dispatch. In returning this gallant remnant of a noble body of men whose bravery has been exhibited on every field almost in the campaigns cited, to the State whose pride it is to have sent them forth, I feel happy that it has been in my powers to signify even in this insufficient manner my appreciation of their service and of their value to this Army. And I will venture on the latter account to ask