NAVY DEPARTMENT, August 20, 1861. Hon. SIMON CAMERON, Secretary of War: SIR: The importance of keeping open the navigation of the Potomac is so obvious that no argument is necessary on the subject. So far as is possible this Department has and will continue to discharge its duty in this matter by an armed flotilla; but there are one or two points where shore batteries can be made to interrupt communication, and, in view of that danger and recent information, I would most urgently request that immediate measures be taken by the War Department to fortify and intrench Mathias Point. A single regiment, aided by two of our steamers, could heretofore, and perhaps may still, take possession of and secure it. But if more than a regiment is required, it appears to be indispensable that the requisite number should be furnished. Attention on repeated occasions has been called to the particular necessity of holding that place as absolutely essential to the unobstructed navigation of the Potomac. The Navy will at any moment contribute its efforts towards seizing and holding that place, and I apprehend there should not be any delay. Cannot a sufficient force be sent down forthwith to seize and, in connection with such armed vessels as we can order for that purpose, hold Mathias Point, and thus keep open the navigation of the Potomac? I understand that troops will be sent to the Lower Maryland counties, to keep the peace and prevent batteries from being erected on the left bank. This is a timely and wise precaution, but it is equally necessary that we should take possession of Mathias Point. Should the insurgents get possession of that point, it will require a very large force to dispossess them. I remain, sir, very respectfully, &c., GIDEON WELLES. [Indorsement.] Respectfully referred to the immediate attention of the LieutenantGeneral. SIMON CAMERON, Secretary of War. HEADQUARTERS CORPS OF OBSERVATION, Poolesville, August 20, 1861. Maj. S. WILLIAMS, Headquarters Division of the Potomac : MAJOR: The condition of this command remains good, and to all appearances the positions of the enemy have not changed opposite us since my letter of yesterday's date to the General Commanding. I am still under the impression that there is no very large force in my immediate front, but of course it could be held within one day's march of either of the ferries and yet be out of view. The river is not deemed fordable here to-day in consequence of the recent rains; but should the rain cease, the water will probably fall in forty-eight hours so as to render three fords passable. I have received no news from General Banks' command directly; shall send up the river to learn something of his position this evening. If there is any reasonable chance of an attempt to cross here, I would respectfully ask for at least two more regiments and additional artillery. My cavalry force is so weak, that I cannot make the use I desire to of that arm without breaking down both horses and men. Very respectfully, I am, major, your obedient servant, CHAS. P. STONE, Brigadier-General, Commanding. HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF THE SHENANDOAH, General GEORGE B. MCCLELLAN, Washington, D. C.: I have near here 10,860 infantry, 549 artillerymen, 333 cavalry, and fourteen pieces light artillery. At Frederick the First Maryland Regiment, nearly 750, and the Fourth Connecticut Regiment, nearly 750. At Sharpsburg nearly 1,000. Detailed report will be sent by mail. No news here this evening. N. P. BANKS, Major-General, Commanding. HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF THE SHENANDOAH, Colonel GEARY, Twenty-eighth Pennsylvania Regiment: The General wishes you as far as possible to put a stop to all intercourse with the State of Virginia in the vicinity of your posts. Should you be forced to retire by largely superior forces of the enemy, you will endeavor to concentrate your regiment as much as you can in retreating and retire upon Hyattstown, where your brigade will be for the present. You will at once send off all your baggage, except that which is absolutely necessary. In case you are forced to retreat, you will destroy the railroad and telegraph as far as possible. Very respectfully, your obedient servant, ROBT. WILLIAMS, Assistant Adjutant-General. HEADQUARTERS DIVISION OF THE POTOMAC, Brig. Gen. ANDREW PORTER, U. S. A., Provost-Marshal, Washington, D. C.: August 20, 1861. GENERAL: Major-General McClellan directs that throughout the day to-morrow you hold in readiness to march at a minute's warning a light battery, two companies of cavalry, and as many companies of infantry as you may deem necessary, to put down a mutiny in Colonel Baker's California Regiment. Should any portion of that regiment mutiny (and there is now some reason to suppose that they will), you are authorized to use force if necessary to quell it. If they refuse to obey, you are authorized to fire on them. I am, sir, very respectfully, your obedient servant, A. V. COLBURN, Assistant Adjutant-General. GENERAL ORDERS,} No. HDQRS. ARMY OF THE POTOMAC, In accordance with General Orders, No. 15, of August 17, 1861, from the headquarters of the Army, I hereby assume command of the Army of the Potomac, comprising the troops serving in the former Departments of Washington and Northeastern Virginia, in the valley of the Shenandoah, and in the States of Maryland and Delaware. The organization of the command into divisions and brigades will be announced hereafter. The following-named officers are attached to the staff of the Army of the Potomac: Maj. S. Williams, assistant adjutant-general. Capt. A. V. Colburn, assistant adjutant-general. Col. R. B. Marcy, inspector-general. Col. T. M. Key, aide-de-camp. Capt. N. B. Sweitzer, First Cavalry, aide-de-camp. Capt. Edward McK. Hudson, Fourteenth Infantry, aide-de-camp. Maj. Stewart Van Vliet, chief quartermaster. Maj. H. F. Clarke, chief commissary. Surg. C. S. Tripler, medical director. Maj. J. G. Barnard, chief engineer. Maj. J. N. Macomb, chief topographical engineer. Capt. C. P. Kingsbury, chief of ordnance. Brig. Gen. George Stoneman, volunteer service, chief of cavalry. Brig. Gen. W. F. Barry, volunteer service, chief of artillery. GEO. B. MCCLELLAN, Major-General, U. S. Army. HEADQUARTERS ARMY OF OCCUPATION, To the Loyal Citizens of Western Virginia: You are the vast majority of the people. If the principle of self-government is to be respected, you have a right to stand in the position you have assumed, faithful to the constitution and laws of Virginia as they were before the ordinance of secession. The Confederates have determined at all hazards to destroy the Government which for eighty years has defended our rights and given us a name among the nations. Contrary to your interests and your wishes they have brought war on your soil. Their tools and dupes told you you must vote for secession as the only means to insure peace; that unless you did so, hordes of abolitionists would overrun you, plunder your property, steal your slaves, abuse your wives and daughters, seize upon your lands, and hang all those who opposed them. By these and other atrocious falsehoods they alarmed you and led many honest and unsuspecting citizens to vote for secession. Neither threats, nor fabrications, nor intimidations sufficed to carry Western Virginia against the interests and wishes of its people into the arms of secession. Enraged that you dared to disobey their behests, Eastern Virginians who had been accustomed to rule you and to court your votes and ambitious recreants from among yourselves, disappointed that you would not make good their promises, have conspired to tie you to the desperate fortunes of the Confederacy or drive you from your homes. Between submission to them and subjugation or expulsion they leave you no alternative. You say you do not wish to destroy the old Government under which you have lived so long and peacefully; they say you shall break it up. You say you wish to remain citizens of the United States; they reply you shall join the Southern Confederacy to which the Richmond junta has transferred you, and to carry their will there, Jenkins, Wise, Jackson and other conspirators proclaim upon your soil a relentless and neighborhood war. Their misguided or unprincipled followers re-echo their cry, threatening fire and sword, hanging and exile, to all who oppose their arbitrary designs. They have set neighbor against neighbor and friend against friend; they have introduced a warfare only known among savages. In violation of the laws of nations and humanity, they have proclaimed that private citizens may and ought to make war. Under this bloody code peaceful citizens, unarmed travelers, and single soldiers have been shot down, and even the wounded and defenseless have been killed; scalping their victims is all that is wanting to make their warfare like that which seventy or eighty years ago was waged by the Indians against the white race on this very ground. You have no other alternative left you but to unite as one man in the defense of your homes, for the restoration of law and order, or be subjugated or driven from the State. I therefore earnestly exhort you to take the most prompt and vigorous measures to put a stop to neighborhood and private wars. You must remember that the laws are suspended in Eastern Virginia, which has transferred itself to the Southern Confederacy. The old constitution and laws of Virginia are only in force in Western Virginia. These laws you must maintain. Let every citizen, without reference to past political opinions, unite with his neighbors to keep these laws in operation, and thus prevent the country from being desolated by plunder and violence, whether committed in the name of secessionism or Unionism. I conjure all those who have hitherto advocated the doctrine of secessionism as a political opinion to consider that now its advocacy means war against the peace and interests of Western Virginia. It is an invitation to the Southern confederates to come in and subdue you, and proclaims that there can be no law or right until this is done. My mission among you is that of a fellow-citizen, charged by the Government to expel the arbitrary force which domineered over you, to restore that law and order of which you have been robbed, and to maintain your right to govern yourselves under the Constitution and laws of the United States. To put an end to the savage war waged by individuals, who without warrant of military authority lurk in the bushes and waylay messengers or shoot sentries, I shall be obliged to hold the neighborhood in which these outrages are committed responsible; and unless they raise the hue and cry and pursue the offenders, deal with them as accessaries to the crime. Unarmed and peaceful citizens shall be protected, the rights of private property respected, and only those who are found enemies of the Government of the United States and peace of Western Virginia will be disturbed. Of those I shall require absolute certainty that they will do no mischief. Put a stop to needless arrests and the spread of malicious reports. Let each town and district choose five of its most reliable and energetic citizens a committee of public safety, to act in concert with the civic and military authorities and be responsible for the preservation of peace and good order. Citizens of Western Virginia, your fate is mainly in your own hands. If you allow yourselves to be trampled under foot by hordes of disturbers, plunderers, and murderers, your land will become a desolation. If you stand firm for law and order and maintain your rights, you may dwell together peacefully and happily as in former days. W. S. ROSECRANS, Brigadier-General, U. S. Army, Commanding. HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF PENNSYLVANIA, Capt. EDWARD MCK. HUDSON, Aide-de-Camp: SIR: The Secretary of the Navy is in error in supposing that I have the means of effectually blockading the Patuxent. I have but two revenue cutters at my disposal, both sailing vessels, the Forward and the Hope. The former belongs to the revenue service, but is in bad order and ought to be hauled up for repairs. The latter is a yacht, which her owner, who commands her, offered for gratuitous service. She lies opposite Fort McHenry, and has been very useful and efficient. She is entirely unsuited to the service which would be required of her in the lower part of the bay. Armed steamers are indispensable. The Secretary of the Treasury promised me four steamers of from three to four hundred tons. With these I thought the whole commerce of the Chesapeake north of the Potomac could be effectually controlled. I inclose a copy of a letter to him of the 8th instant,* explaining the necessity for such a force. My opinion still is that nothing short of it will suffice to break up the illicit commercial intercourse carried on between the Eastern Shore of Maryland with Virginia through the Patuxent and Potomac. I have twice called the attention of the Government to the fact that there is a rebel camp in Northampton County, on the Eastern Shore of Virginia, which is a nucleus of disaffection for Accomac and the counties on the Eastern Shore of Maryland up to the Delaware line. It is very important that it should be broken up. Two regiments, with a discreet commander, could march through this important district and put down all opposition. I am, respectfully, yours, JOHN A. DIX, Major-General, Commanding. Printed in Series III, Vol. I. 37 R R-VOL V |