the case, the troops now stationed at Fort Jefferson, Elliott's Mills, and at Norfolk should be immediately ordered to Bird's Point. One battalion of infantry and a small detachment of cavalry should be left at Fort Holt for the protection of the siege battery, and the two gunboats stationed near Island Numbers 1, to protect Fort Holt and control Norfolk. As soon as the concentration of all troops at Bird's Point is completed, a demonstration against Charleston should be made. Paducah is under all circumstances to be held, and Smithland well protected, for the control of the junction of the Ohio and Cumberland Rivers.

J. C. FREMONT,

Major-General.

HEADQUARTERS WESTERN DEPARTMENT, Saint Louis, Mo., September 28, 1861.

General GRANT, Commanding at Cairo, Ill.:

Colonel Carlin reports from his headquarters, at Ironton, Mo., under date of September 26, that there is no rebel force nearer that point than Pitman's Ferry, Ark., except small marauding bands near Bloomfield.

On the 23rd instant Hardee was at Pitman's Ferry and Pocahontas with 7,000 men. Three of his regiments left that day for Columbus, Ky., via Point Pleasant, Mo. For the latter place the balance of the force was to leave about next week. The whole command was composed of nine regiments and twenty-six pieces of artillery.

CHAUNCEY McKEEVER,
Assistant Adjutant-General.

GENERAL ORDERS,
HDQRS. SECOND DIV. ARMY OF THE WEST Numbers 1.
Jefferson City, September 28, 1861.

By virtue of General Orders, Numbers 16, from department headquarters, the undersigned assumes command of the Second Division of the Army of the West.

For the present, the division consists of the following brigades and regiments, with such artillery and cavalry as shall hereafter be designated, viz:

First Brigade, Acting Brigadier General Jeff. C. Davis, commanding: Eighth, Eighteenth, Twenty-Second, and Twenty-fifth Indiana Regiments.

Second Brigade, Acting Brigadier General J. C. Kelton, commanding: Iowa Fifth, Illinois Thirty-seventh, Missouri Ninth, and Kansas First.

* * * * * *

JNO. POPE,

Acting Major-General, Commanding.

HEADQUARTERS WESTERN DEPARTMENT, Jefferson City, September 29, 1861.

Brigadier General C. F. SMITH, Paducah, Ky.:

It having been reported that the rebels have evacuated Columbus and crossed over to Belmont to attack Cape Girardeau or Ironton, Brigadier General U. S. Grant was yesterday directed, in case the information should