diceded victories. The valor and endurance of your army in the several conflicts which terminated in the expulsion of the enemy from the loyal State of Maryland are creditable alike to the troops and to the officers who commanded them. A grateful country, while mourning the lamented dead, will not be unmindful of the honors due the living.

H. W. HALLECK,

General-in-Chief.

HEADQUARTERS ARMY OF THE POTOMAC,
September 19, 1862-8.15 p. m. (Received 8.30 p. m.)

Major General H. W. HALLECK, General-in-Chief:

As an act of justice to the merits of that most excellent officer, Major General Joseph Hooker, who was eminently conspicuous for his gallantry and ability as a leader in several hard-fought battles in Virginia, and who, in the battle of Antietam Creek, on the 17th instant, was wounded at the head of his corps while leading it forward in action, I most urgently recommend him for the appointment of brigadier-general in the U. S. Army, to fill the vacancy created by the death of the late Brigadier-General Mansfield. this would be but a fit reward for the service General Hooker rendered his country. I feel sure his appointment would gratify the entire army.

GEO. B. McCLELLAN,

Major-General.

HEADQUARTERS ARMY OF THE POTOMAC,
Camp near Sharpsburg, Md., September 22, 1862.

Brigadier-General THOMAS,

Adjutant-General, U. S. Army:

GENERAL: There will be sent to you, with other trophies of the engagement on Antietam Creek, a battle-flag which was taken by Private Thomas Hare, of Company D, Eighty-ninth Regiment New York Volunteers, in the most gallant manner. Private Hare was afterward killed. I beg that a copy of this letter may be referred to the Commissioner of Pensions, with the request that he will extend every facility to the family of the deceased in obtaining readily the pension to which they are entitled under the law. I also request that this communication may be laid before that President, with the hope that he will be pleased to ask of Congress to mark their appreciation of the gallantry and devotion of Private Hare by some additional provision for his family, or in any other way in which they may see fit.

I am, general, very respectfully, your obedient servant,

GEO. B. McCLELLAN,

Major-General, U. S. Army.

GENERAL ORDERS, HEADQUARTERS ARMY OF THE POTOMAC,

Numbers 160. Camp near Sharpsburg, Md., October 3, 1862.

The commanding general extends his congratulations to the army under his command for the victories achieved by their bravery at the passes of the South Mountain and upon the Antietam Creek.

The brilliant conduct of Reno's and Hooker's corps, under Burnside, at Turner's Gap, and of Franklin's corps at Crampton's Pass, in which, in the face of an enemy strong in position and resisting with obstinacy, they carried the mountain and prepared the way for the advance of the army, won for them the admiration of their brethren in arms.