The Potomac column twenty days ago would have secured all that country and completely crushed secession in the West. Will General McClellan meet Western generals for consultation? Halleck is now moving up Tennessee, but I think that his own force is inadequate for work before them. Matters for Mississippi River movement progressing well.

THOMAS A. SCOTT,

Assistant Secretary of War.

HEADQUARTERS EIGHTEENTH BRIGADE,
Camp Brownlow, March 6, 1862.

Lieutenant-Governor FISK, Frankfort, Ky.:

DEAR SIR: I desire to submit through you to the honorable General Assembly of Kentucky the consideration of the condition of the Union men of the Sandy Valley. They have been robbed of all their means of defense by the rebel army which has lately been driven from this portion of the State. There is now no organized force of the enemy in Eastern Kentucky, and if the Union men could be furnished with arms and the militia thoroughly reorganized the whole region could be easily protected in future. I believe there is no further danger of an invasion from beyond the borders of the State, but there will be for a long time hereafter constant danger to the citizens from small bands of reckless men, who have no other object than to rob and plunder.

I earnestly commend this matter to the attention of your honorable bodies, hoping that immediate steps may be taken to shield this unhappy people from the terrorism which has reigned for the last three months. I am happy to assure you that the Union sentiment is rapidly growing among the people, and I believe they can now be safely trusted with their own defense and the maintenance of the Federal authorities in their midst.

Hoping that arrangements may be made for their protection when the troops under my command are withdrawn, I am, very truly, your obedient servant,

J. A. GARFIELD,

Colonel, Commanding Brigade.

HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF THE MISSOURI,
Saint Louis, March 6, 1862.

Major General U. S. GRANT,

Fort Henry, Tenn.:

I inclose herewith a copy of a letter addressed to Judge Davis, president of the Western Investigating Commission. Judge Davis says the writer is a man of integrity and perfectly reliable.

The want of order and discipline and the numerous irregularities in your command since the capture of Fort Donelson are matters of general notoriety, and have attracted the serious attention of the authorities at Washington. Unless these things are immediately corrected I am directed to relieve you of the command.

H. W. HALLECK,

Major-General.