CHAP.XIII.] CORRESPONDENCE, ETC.-CONFEDERATE.

WASHINGTON, [N. C.,] October 9, 1861.

Adjt. General J. G. MARTIN:

DEAR SIR: * * *

The object of my present letter, therefore, is to propose that the governor signify through the public press, that he will call out the militia in the counties bordering on the sound if volunteers enough are not raised by the 20th instant for the defense of the State; the commander of the district to be judge of the proper complement of men.

We are very much in need of three batteries of light artillery. I understand they can be purchased in Rome, Ga., and one battery received in fifteen days from the date of the order. I most earnestly urge the immediate purchase of these guns. There ought to be a battery on Shackleford Banks to prevent the landing of the enemy, &c.

With great respect,

D. H. HILL, Brigadier-General, Commanding.

GENERAL ORDERS,} HDQRS. ARMY OF THE PENINSULA, Numbers 39. } Yorktown, Va., October 11, 1861.

The major-general commanding the Army of the Peninsula announces to the troops that he has received reliable information that the enemy will soon advance. Seventy rifled pieces and 5600 artillery horses, with a large number of wagons, are at Fort Monroe ready for the field. The commanding general of the troops at that post and Newport News has proclaimed to his men that no quarters will be built for them, but that they will fight for their winter quarters and find them at Yorktown.

From Saint Louis to Washington, from Washington, from Washington to New Orleans, the command is :"Onward to the destruction of the South." Let us, therefore, stand ready to welcome these strangers to "hospitable graves." The commanding general knows too well the high character of the troops under him to believe that any would desire to absent upon an occasion like this. Sickness of friends, pecuniary interests, and temporary physical disability, which in ordinary times would be good reason for expecting leaves of absence, can no longer be so considered. Therefore no leaves to officers or furloughs to soldiers will be granted until the month of January, and not then if they shall be considered injurious to the interest of the army. No leaves or furloughs based on certificates of disability will be granted to leave the department, the climate here being now healthy and the hospital accommodations good. In cases where surgeons recommend furloughs on account of sickness, the patients will be sent to the hospital at Bigler's, or some one of the hospitals attached to the army, where they will be well cared for, and returned for duty when able to perform it.

J. BANKHEAD MAGRUDER, Brigadier-General, Commanding.

HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF NORTH CAROLINA, Golsborough, N. C., October 12, 1861.

GENERAL: Since my letter of the 8th instant I have been informed from the Adjutant-General's Office that it was designed that Roanoke