HEADQUARTERS OF THE ARMY,
Washington, July 29, 1861.

Brigadier-General ROSECRANS, Clarksburg, Va.:

Leave Cox on the Kanawha for the present if the will consent to stay. Fortify the Gauley as heretofore proposed; also Cheat Mountain, Huttonsville, and the West Union road. Bring up to Grafton the stores left by the Pennsylvania (ordered to Harper's Ferry), or send a detachments to Cumberland or Piedmont.

WINFIELD SCOTT.

SANDY HOOK, July 29, 1861.

Colonel E. D. TOWNSEND, Assistant Adjutant-General:

Two Pennsylvania regiments and one Indiana arrived, making nine war regiments now here. In view of our reduced force and the probabilities of attack, which, however uncertain, can not be disregarded, I have placed our force chiefly on the Maryland side. We are too weak to defend, yet so strong as to make retreat across the ford impossible if necessary. Commanding officers unanimous in recommending this movement. We occupy the town and the heights commanding it absolutely, and with our increasing forces and the immediate erection of a temporary bridge we shall be ready for any movement you may order.

N. P. BANKS.

DEPARTMENT OF THE SHENANDOAH,

Harper's Ferry, Va., July 29, 1861.

Colonel E. D. TOWNSEND, Assistant Adjutant-General, &c.:

SIR: I telegraphed you this morning the position we had taken. Our force was reduced, with the exception of the battery of Major Doubleday, to five or six thousand men. Reports were received constantly of advancing forces of the rebels, and although proving in the end to be unfounded, we could not disregard them. So strongly did these rumors come to us, that one of the officers on Saturday evening, at 5.30 o'clock, believed that he saw several regiments crossing the Shenandoah above Key's Ford. In momentary expectation of attack, with a force wholly incompetent to defend against any considerable number, we were also compelled to recognize the fact that, with our force of six thousand, and the volunteers whose terms were daily expiring, and more than three hundred baggage-wagons, it would be utterly impossible to cross by the ferry without destruction. The ferry was likely to be made impassable by threatened rains. We sent our disposable baggage-wagons across on Saturday. Yesterday we moved the chief part of our troops across, taking a very strong position in Pleasant Valley, a little below Sandy Hook. Our troops still occupy the town, and we planted batteries on the plateau opposite the town, and another on the summit of the Maryland Heights, to which there are good mountain roads. These will make the town of Harper's Ferry and the Loudoun Heights, on the south of the Shenandoah, absolutely untenable to the enemy, whether in large or small force. We are so placed that we can attack the enemy if the advances, support our batteries if assailed, prevent the occupation of the town by the rebels, and secure against all chances our communication with our lines. Every