HEADQUARTERS FIRST ARMY CORPS,
February 16, 1865.

Maj. Gen. J. B. KERSHAW,
Commanding Division:

It is deemed desirable, and a request is made through General Lee, that the several corps of this army give an expression of opinion on the subject of putting negroes, who for the boon of freedom would volunteer as soldiers, into the field. The effect of such a measure on this army is doubted, and consequently the matter is submitted to your discretion for obtaining the sense of your division on the subject. It may not be amiss to say that the opinion of the lieutenant-general commanding is that the adoption of such a measure will involve the necessity of abolishing slavery entirely in the future, and that, too, without materially aiding us in the present.

Respectfully, your obedient servant, -

0. LATROBE, Assistant Adjutant- General.
(Same to Generals G. E. Pickett and H. L. Benning.)