WAR DEPARTMENT
OFFICIAL BUSINESS

Local Board for the County of Jackson,
State of North Carolina.
Sylva, N.C. [stamped]

[LOCAL BOARD STAMP]

July 27, 1918.

Mr. D. H. Hill,
Chairman Council of Defense,
Raleigh, N.C.

My dear Sir:

I was glad to receive your letter of the 16th inst. relative to deserters. We still have eleven or twelve in this County.

Prior to receiving your letter, I had written a letter to the parents of each of these deserters. I have been conducting a campaign among the friends and relatives of these men. Sometime ago five deserters surrendered to me and I returned them to Camp. Upon my recommendation, they were not punished. One of the deserters came in today and surrendered. After a talk with him, I paroled him for ten days in the custody of his uncle in order that he might carry a message from me to the other deserters, if he could possibly get in touch with them. The indications are that in a short while they will all come in. I find that all these men are tired staying in the mountains. They only want assurances that they will not be severely punished. A personal letter from the Governor to me I think would go a long ways toward bringing these men in. Practically all the delinquents, some of whom were in the woods with these deserters, have come in and have been duly entrained. I keep putting them in each regular call for men. When they come in, I treat them as the other men and send them on to Camp. This has done much to encourage them to come in. We had several of these men in the entrainment on the 24th.

Yours very truly,

Coleman C. Cowan
CHAIRMAN.

C-E