MEANS OF WATER TRANSPORTATION OBSERVED AT THE WHARVES, IN THE CANAL, ETC. An agent employed by me reports nine steamers, four of which, how ever, are identical with the last four just named, which are generally small propellers or tugs, but which he thinks would tow barges enough to carry 15,000 meu. He finds nine Schuylkill barges, each of which will carry 400 or 500 men, and eighteen coal boats, capable of carrying 200 men each. He thinks that in a week he could collect, not counting the Navy Department vessels, means to transport down the Potomac 20,000 men. From the foregoing statements it will be seen: 1st. That if Burnside's fleet is counted as available for our purposes, nothing additional is requisite except ten or twelve Schuylkill barges, most of which can be found here and the balance made up from coal and wood barges. 2d. That by use of what the Navy and quartermaster could furnish, and by collection of barges and schooners usually to be found, transportation for 20,000 men could be had at short notice. It would seem that with the number of steamers usually available and other craft to be found there was no actual necessity for further collections. With a view, however, to being independent of hasty collections, and having on hand a cheap class of vessels, admirably calcu lated either for carrying men or freight, and which will make existing steam power capable of doing an indefinite amount of work, it would be a good step to purchase from the Pennsylvania canals twenty of their large barges, which can be arranged, on a draught of 5 feet water or 6 at utmost, to carry 500 or 1,000 men; also to collect 50 landing boats, capable of carrying 40 men each. To carry out these views, or whatever views the Commanding General may adopt, a special agent should be appointed, who should be either a member of the Quartermaster's Department or a Navy officer. Such an officer as Lieutenant Phelps, U. S. Navy, who assisted me in establishing ferries, &c., would be admirably calculated. Lieutenant Wyman, lately of the Potomac flotilla, expressed a desire to serve with the Army. Mr. Cathcart, a clerk in the Treasury Department, is a nautical man, full of expedients and resources, and very familiar with the Potomac River and Chesapeake and Ohio Canal; he would be a very proper man for this service. Respectfully submitted. J. G. BARNARD, Brigadier-General, Chief Engineer, Army of Potomac. SPECIAL ORDERS, HEADQUARTERS ARMY OF THE POTOMAC, 6. Brig. Gen. P. St. Geo. Cooke, U. S. Army, having reported to these headquarters, in compliance with instructions from the headquarters of the Army, is assigned to the command of the regular cavalry serving in the Army of the Potomac. 16. The division of Major-General Banks will take up a position at or in the vicinity of Frederick City, to be selected by the division com mander, who is also assigned to the command of the Maryland Home Guards raised in that quarter. General Banks will protect the portion of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal lying between Cumberland and the Monocacy River. 17. The Fifth, Sixth, Seventh, and Eighth New Jersey Volunteers will constitute a brigade, to be commanded for the present by the senior colonel, and will form part of the division of Brigadier-General Hooker, which they will join with as little delay as practicable. Brigadier-General Casey will arrange with Brigadier-General Van Vliet, chief quartermaster, as to the route and means of transportation. # By command of Major-General McClellan: S. WILLIAMS, Assistant Adjutant-General. [NOVEMBER 29, 1861.] Brig. Gen. CHARLES P. STONE, Commanding at Poolesville: Please inform General Hill that I have no wish to protect robbers, and that I will cordially unite in any proper effort to repress marauding. If he will turn these men over to me, with the evidence necessary to convict them before a commission, they shall be tried and punished in good faith. Say to him that I have no plea to interpose for men who have disobeyed my orders by stealing, except to recommend the utmost care and reflection in the infliction of a punishment which, although just, may lead to reprisals beyond my power to control, and may lend to this contest a degree of ferocity which I desire to avoid. GEO. B. MCCLELLAN, Major-General, Commanding U. S. Ármy. HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF WESTERN VIRGINIA, Brig. Gen. L. THOMAS, Washington, D. C.: SIR: I have the honor to say, for the information of the Commanding General, that I am so far convalescent as to be able to attend to business. On the 26th instant I found it necessary to arrest Brig. Gen. II. W. Benham for unofficer-like neglect of duty. He applied for a leave of absence on a medical certificate, with permission to visit a city, and has gone to New York. The Tenth and Ninth Ohio are probably at Covington, or farther, on their way to join the command of General Buell. The Thirteenth, detained by the state of the roads, will probably go down to-day or tomorrow. No pen can describe the desperate condition of the roads; they are next to impassable. They are the military obstacle of the remainder of the season. Presuming the Commanding General has no special directions to give about matters I have been presenting for his consideration relative to this department and the contiguous part of the State of Ohio, I have made the following dispositions of the forces in this valley, and shall proceed to Wheeling as soon as practicable: First. At Fayetteville, Schenck's brigade, cantoned in secession houses, deserted by their inhabitants, to be intrenched. Second. At this point, intrenched post, Forty-seventh Ohio, under Poschner; one 20-pounder Parrott and two howitzers. Third. At Gauley Bridge, Twenty-eighth [Ohio], Colonel Moor, intrenched. Fourth. At Summersville and Cross-Lanes, Thirty-sixth [Ohio], Colonel Crook. Fifth. At Cannelton and west side of Kanawha, Thirty-seventh [Ohio], Colonel Siber, in barns and houses, made in cantonments; supervision of country from Loop to Cabin Creek. Sixth. At Camp Piatt, opposite the Boone and Kanawha turnpike and head of ordinary steamboat navigation, Forty-fourth [Ohio], Colonel Gilbert. Seventh. At Charleston and Kanawha River, with supervision of the defenses of the valley, to Brigadier-General Cox, whose brigade will be quartered in the vicinity of Charleston; Eighth Virginia at Buffalo. Eighth. At Point Pleasant, Fourth Virginia, Colonel Lightburn. Ninth. At Barboursville and Mud River, Thirty-fourth Ohio, Colonel Piatt. Tenth. At Guyandotte, Second Virginia Cavalry, Colonel Bolles. On the other line, Brigadier-General Reynolds at Beverly, one regiment by detail and in turn at Cheat, one at Elk Water, one at Huttonsville, two at Beverly, and one at Philippi. At Romney, Kelley re-enforced by two Indiana regiments and a battery. The points for enterprises appear to be Wytheville, Logan Court-House, and Kelley's front. I urgently beg for a few regular officers to form an examining commission. Major Slemmer is near the point of death from typhoid fever. He is at a private house, 5 miles from Beverly. His wife is with him. If he recovers, it will be two months at least before he can do any duty. Very respectfully, your obedient servant, W. S. ROSECRANS, Brigadier-General, U. S. Army. ADJUTANT-GENERAL'S OFFICE, Brig. Gen. W. S. ROSECRANS, Commanding Dep't W. Va., Camp Gauley Mountain : SIR: Your several communications have been considered by the General-in-Chief, and the following are his instructions and remarks: In the orders heretofore sent you the Kentucky regiments were not included, but only Ohio and Indiana regiments, in the detachments to be made by you to Kentucky. At present it is impracticable to designate any other brigadier-generals for your department, but it will be done as soon as possible. Please suggest the names of any colonels of your command who may be suitable for that appointment. You will please detach from your command the following troops: The regular battery of artillery, commanded by Captain Howard, Fourth Artillery, to report to Brigadier General Kelley at Romney. Order the regular battery commanded by Captain Mack, Loomis' volunteer battery (Michigan), and four more infantry regiments to Kentucky, making in all twelve regiments to Kentucky, to report to BrigadierGeneral Buell. Order Howe's battery, Fourth Artillery, to Washington, to join the Army of the Potomac. The two Virginia regiments will be furnished with guns by the Ordnance Department. Örders will be given here for five regiments to report to Brigadier-General Kelley at Romney. Instruct General Kelley, on their arrival, to order the eight Ohio regiments to Camp Chase, to be reorganized and then sent to Kentucky. The general staff officers at Cincinnati will be no longer under your command. The affairs of the depot there will be regulated by the bureau here. Your requisitions for supplies will be made on that depot as usual. Captain McLean, assistant adjutant-general, has been ordered. The recruiting service for volunteers will be conducted according to General Orders, No. 69. There are mustering officers at Cincinnati, Columbus, and Cleveland. As far as possible you will avoid sending your sick beyond your de partment limits. A general hospital may be established at Wheeling. If the regimental surgeons give proper attention to sanitary precautions in the camp the sick list may be reduced. You can continue the depots at Bellaire and Marietta, or move them within the limits of your department, as you deem best. I am, sir, &c., L. THOMAS, Memorandum for General McClellan. [Made on or about December 1, 1861.] The idea of shifting the theater of operations to the James, York, or Rappahannock has often occurred. The great difficulty I have found in the matter is that of moving a body as large as necessary rapidly, and of making the necessary preparations for such a movement, so that they should not in themselves give indications of the whereabouts of the intended operations in time to meet them. The first thing to be considered is the old danger attending all similar operations. In cutting the enemy's line of operations you expose yourself, and a bold and desperate enemy, seeing himself anticipated at Richmond, might attempt to retrieve the disaster by a desperate effort upon Washingtou. Leaving, then, as we should do, the great mass of the enemy in front of Washington, it would not be safe to leave it guarded by less than 100,000 men; that is, until we became certain that he had withdrawn from our front so far as to render his return upon it impracticable. It seems to me, too, that the full garrisoning of the works up to the standard fixed upon should be completed without delay. These works will but imperfectly serve their purpose if they are not defended by troops who have some familiarity with their positions and duties. (Lieutenant McAlester asks urgently for the regiment of Colonel Poe, Heintzelman's division, to be added to the 600 men under Colonel Christian at Fort Lyon; in the first place to give an adequate and efficient garrison to that important work; in the second, to enable him to get fatigue parties large enough to finish it off.) The works between Potomac Eastern Branch [?] are finished and armed (with exception of the three small works above Chain Bridge, not quite done). Of those over Eastern Branch, Forts Greble, Carroll, Stanton, and work near Benning's Bridge are nearly or quite done, and garrisons may be assigned. The gap between Benning's Bridge work and Fort Stanton is being filled up by three or four works now under construction. I dwell on this matter somewhat, since, if the army moves, particularly if it makes a flank movement, leaving the enemy in front, the measures for defense of the city cannot be too carefully taken. Now as to the expedition: Considering the great difficulty of transporting at one time large numbers, the confusion which will attend the landing, and consequent difficulty of getting the columns into prompt marching order after landing, with our new troops, if the numbers are great, I should be disposed to make the first descent with a comparatively small but select corps, not over 20,000-at outside 30,000 men. Let it be supposed the latter number is adopted. How shall the movement be made so as to attract least attention in its preparations and to deceive the enemy as to their object? General Burnside's force I suppose to be about 10,000 men. His flotilla, including his seven sailing vessels and five floating batteries, will carry that number. (In my former memorandum I estimated 15,350, but I now exclude the surf-boats and launches and diminish the numbers, as I then estimated for a short voyage, not leaving the Potomac.) I suppose there would be three batteries and, say, 1,000 cavalry accompanying this division. I suppose that,. among the large steamers about Baltimore, the additional transportation for this artillery and cavalry could be found. If so, we have a force of 10,000 or 11,000, with artillery and cavalry, provided for. For a second column, I think I would embark it from the Port Tobacco River. The concentration of troops under Hooker would cover a movement that way, and it would threaten the Potomac batteries. The Navy will furnish four side-wheel steamers and the Stepping Stones, which will carry 3,500. The Quartermaster's Department has seven steamers, which will carry 5,000, and, collecting the eight or nine Schuylkill barges to be found here and schooners and tugboats, so doubtless transportation could be commanded for 10,000 men, with three batteries of artillery and 1,000 cavalry. You will observe my estimates are much lower than before, for then I was considering an operation restricted to the Potomac and of not more than 50 or 60 miles. Now for additional numbers: I am inclined to think it is easier to carry troops to New York (twelve hours), embark them there, and make but one thing of it, than to bring the shipping to Annapolis or the Potomac. However that may be, if it is determined that the additional number shall be 10,000 men or 20,000 men, or more, I would command the transportation at once in New York, the place where everything can be had in unstinted quantities and of the most suitable kind. All sea steamers (not otherwise chartered), the large sound steamers, the large North River, sound, and coasting propellers, can be had there; and there all the appliances to fit them for troops, horses, &c., can be quickest made. Perhaps the best way, therefore, would be to commence at once and send the troops, artillery and cavalry, to Fort Monroe, to hold themselves ready for shipment at a moment's notice; to order the transportation necessary in New York. According to the foregoing propositions, there would be three columns ready for a simultaneous movement: 10,000 at Annapolis, 10,000 at Port |