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

WAR DEPARTMENT, C. S., Richmond, November 2, 1861.

His Excellency Gov. HENRY T. CLARK, Raleigh, N. C.:

SIR: I have the honor to receive your letter of October 25, in regard to the condition of North Carolina. The dangers which have threatened or may still threaten your State have not escaped the solicitude of the Government, and no effort has been spared or will in future be spared to provide against every attack. Before your letter was received to Goldsborough, to be in readiness to re-enforce any point which might be threatened with an attack, and three more regiments were held in readiness in Richmond for the same purpose. I trust your excellency will believe me when I assure you that your own solicitude for the safety of North Carolina cannot be greater than ours. No safeguard which we can command for your defense will be overlooked. The safety of all parts of the Confederate States engages equally the solicitude of the Government, and the people of North Carolina may be encouraged in their efforts for their own defense by the assurance that no assistance which the Government can afford them against the common foe will be withheld.

Respectfully,

J. P. BENJAMIN, Acting Secretary of War.

ENGINEER BUREAU, Richmond, Va., November 9, 1861.

Major General J. BANKHEAD MAGRUDER, Commanding Army of the Peninsula, Yorktown, Va.:

SIR: Your application for an additional force of 500 hands, to be employed upon the defenses of the Peninsula, has been laid before the honorable Secretary of War. He expresses himself as not apprehensive that the enemy will undertake a winter campaign in that quarter. He deprecates the heavy expense of such an additional hired force, and fears that the hands hither employed have been kept too long from important agricultural labors. Under these circumstances I am instructed to say that your requisition has not been approved.

Very respectfully, sir, your obedient servant,

D. LEADBETTER, Major of Engineers, Acting Chief of Bureau.

GENERAL ORDERS,} HDQRS. ARMY OF THE PENINSULA, Numbers 105. } Bethel, Va., November 10, 1861.

So much of General Orders, Numbers 89 (October 3), as refers to the organization of the Army of the Peninsula into brigades in hereby revoked. The commanding officers of regiments, battalions, and separate detachments will send their reports to their respective generals of divisions. The troops at and in the vicinity of Bethel, including Broken Bridge and Half-way House, will send their morning reports, through Colonel Winston, to the commanding general. Such troops as, in the absence of the commanding general, may remain at and in the vicinity of Bethel, including Half-way House, will report directly to Colonel Winston.

The First Division of the Army, Brigadier General G. J. Rains commanding,