I will not, therefore, occupy the Maryland Heights, but direct attention on the Williamsport line, where the enemy in small squads frequently appeared to-day.

R. PATTERSON,

Major-General, Commanding.

WASHINGTON, June 19, 1861-9.45 p. m.

Major General R. PATTERSON,

U. S. A., Hagerstown, Md.:

McClellan is again alarmed for the safety of Wallace. I do not believe there is any formidable force in the mountains to assail Wallace, and sooner than be annoyed with these daily rumors it would perhaps be better to call him to you and absorb him. Gover yourself, however, by the later and better information that you may possess. Retain two companies of Thomas' horse, and send him with the other two here. I shall send Major Palmer temporarily to you.

WINFIELD SCOTT.

HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF VIRGINIA, Fort Monroe, Va., June 20, 1861.

Lieutenant General WINFIELD SCOTT,
Commanding-in-Chief, U. S. Army:

SIR: I send you inclosed a memorandum* of information obtained by me from two deserters from Sewell's Point, who escaped this morning in a boat. They are both Northern men, apparently frank and honest, and they have been sent North by me. They belonged to the Macon (Ga.) Volunteers. The general will see that we have an experimental gun on Fort Calhoun, of 24-pounder bore, carrying a 53-pound elongated shot, of Sawyer's patent, by which we are enabled to strike the enemy's battery with a great degree accuracy. I think Sawyer's shell is a success, and I have directed at the ordnance workshop two 6-pounder cannon to be rifled and perhaps one 12-pounder for field purposes, and I have also ordered a competent supply of shell for the same. I hope to have these orders filled within a week. It is among the possibilities, and perhaps the probabilities, that a concentration of troops may be make at Yorktown via James River, and an advance movement upon this post ensue. While waiting for the transportation and the further troops that have been promised me, I have turned me attention, with the aid of the Engineer officers who reported to me four days since, to strengthening my positions outside the walls of the fortress. Newport News, perhaps, can hold out with the three thousand men there against the attack of five thousand or six thousand men, but we have not, as yet, any field artillery here. To defend ourselves outside the fort, we have but about three thousand effective men, and some of them not the best troops. May I ask again for Cook's battery and the Massachusetts troops which were promised me? The enemy are apparently preparing for an advance movement from Yorktown. By the concentration of the Yorktown and Norfolk troops, should they attack, I should be, to say the least, largely outnumbered.

There are plenty of regiments, especially the Second Volunteers Regi-

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*Omitted.

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