tion. It is deemed advisable to concentrate our forces in order to oppose any attempt on the Central Railroad. The President therefore directs that you proceed with your troops to Staunton to unite with those in that vicinity, unless the execution of your original orders should detain you, in which event you will thereafter retire upon Staunton.

Very respectfully, your obedient servant,

S. COOPER,

Adjutant and Inspector General.

HEADQUARTERS,
Winchester, July 18, 1861.

General S. COOPER:

GENERAL: I have had the honor to receive your telegram of yesterday.

General Patterson, who had been at Bunker Hill since Monday, seems to have moved yesterday to Charlestown, twenty-three miles to the east of Winchester.

Unless he prevents it, we shall move toward General Beauregard today. I am compelled to leave the sick and most of the baggage for want of means of transportation. There are wagons enough to carry but four days' provisions, but the urgency of the case seems to me to justify a risk of hunger. I am delayed by provision for the care of the sick.

I leave General Carson here with two brigades of Virginia militia, with orders to fall back if the enemy should approach in force.

Respectfully, &c.,

J. E. JOHNSTON.

HEADQUARTERS FIRST BRIGADE,
Smithfield, Va., July 18, 1861.

Colonel S. S. ANDERSON,

Asst. Adjt. General, Hdqrs. Forces, Norfolk Harbor, Va.:

SIR: I have the honor to report I yesterday completed a personal examination of the country embraced within the limits of this brigade, the neighborhood of Suffolk excepted. Commencing eastward, I find the battery at Cedar Point unfinished. The guns, implements, and ammunition were hourly expected, but, in consequence of changes made in the plan for carriages, several of the platforms now finished must be taken up, and others more complex laid. This seems to me an unnecessary delay, when the guns may at any hour be needed. The battery at Barrel Point still needs at least one 9-inch shell gun, which will render it much more effective. The neck on which these batteries are located is very thickly wooded, and susceptible of defense by a comparatively small force.

I have placed one company of infantry (and a cavalry picket advanced) near the causeway connecting Ragged Island with the mainland. Another cavalry vedette patrols from Soddin's Point eastward. The headquarters of this company (Captain Gillett's) is near the post marked "Store." Seven companies of Colonel Pender's regiment, with headquarters, are, I think, well located at the cross-roads marked "Isle of Wight Chruch." It affords support to Old Town battery, on Jones' Creek, which was previously entirely isolated. All the roads towards