HEADQUARTERS U. S. FORCES,
New York, September 13, 1861.

Captain RUFUS SAXTON,

Assistant Quartermaster, U. S. Army:

SIR: You will provide transportation in good, sound, and safe steamers for fourteen regiments of infantry from this place to localities not to be designated in the contract; said transportation to be ready to leave on the 5th of October. Besides the troops above mentioned, but in connection therewith, are to be transported some 1,400 tons of ordnance and ordnance stores, and the commissary and quartermaster's stores, horses, & c., that will be hereafter turned over to you for that purpose.

Sufficient water must be provided for the men and horses for at least fifteen days, and proper and ample arrangements for cooking, & c., for the whole force. As it is very uncertain when the steamers can be discharged, and as some of them may be required for some time after reaching their destination, without any facilities or means of recoiling, the largest amount of coal must be taken, without prejudice to the stipulated cargo. No stipulation, however, should be made to keep the transports over fifteen days, and indeed this clause had better be left out altogether if practicable. Should it prove advantageous to the public interest to have a couple of these vessels in readiness by the 1st of October, in consideration of the immensity of your material and the difficulty of depositing it, you are authorized to do so, but the public economy must be consulted and adhered to in every contract.

Very respectfully, your obedient servant,

T. W. SHERMAN,

Brigadier-General, Commanding.

HEADQUARTERS OF THE ARMY,
Washington, September 14, 1861.

Brigadier General THOMAS W. SHERMAN, U. S. A.,

New York City, N. Y.:

General Scott says: "Come here with all your command without delay, leaving the smallest guard necessary to protect your camp."

E. D. TOWNSEND,

Assistant Adjutant-General.

EXECUTIVE MANSION, September 18, 1861.

Honorable SECRETARY OF WAR:

MY DEAR SIR: To guard against misunderstanding I think fit to say that the joint expedition of the Army and Navy, agreed upon some time since, and in which General T. W. Sherman was and is to bear a conspicuous part, is in nowise to be abandoned, but must be ready to move by the 1st of or very early in October. Let all preparations go forward accordingly.

Yours, truly,

A. LINCOLN.

GENERAL ORDERS, HEADQUARTERS EXPEDITIONARY CORPS, Numbers 5.
Washington, D. C., September 19, 1861.

The command will for the present be divided into three brigades, to be composed and commanded as follows:

First Brigade, Brigadier-General Viele. - The Forty-sixth, Forty-sev-