many of these were on Bolivar Heights, under command of Brigadier-General White, I have not been informed. Thus matters stood in relation to Harper's Ferry when I received your orders, as follows:

WASHINGTON, September 12, 1862.

Colonel MILES, Harper's Ferry:

You will obey such orders as General McClellan may give you. You will endeavor to open communication with him and unite your forces to his at the earliest possible moment. His army is now near the line of the Monocacy.

To which I at once replied:

BALTIMORE, September 12, 1862.

You can put any of my troops under McClellan's command. They are all on the railroads in detachments and regiments. I have two regiments at the Relay House, one at Ellicott's Mill, one at Elysville, perhaps 7,000 or 8,000 at Harper's Ferry, and two regiments and a battery at Martinsburg. They may be in McClellan's neighborhood, and you can give him authority to use them as or he may deem proper. I have no available troops, except those posted on various railroads.

I was afterward informed that General White had evacuated Martinsburg and joined his forces with those of Colonel Miles, increasing the force at Harper's Ferry to 13,000.

After the order of the 12th was received from you, I received no communications whatever from Harper's Ferry, presuming that General McClellan had taken it under his direction.

It is said that Harper's Ferry was lost in consequence of the enemy taking possession of maryland Heights, It does not appear that any of the guns they mounted there reached Harper's Ferry. The guns of the troops under Ford were spiked and the large guns thrown down the precipice. The next day our troops went up and brought off the field guns, which had been previously spiked. There is no evidence that the guns of the enemy produced the slightest effect on the troops at Harper's Ferry. It is reported, and I think the number will probably be reduced, that Ford lost 160 killed and wounded, and the remainder at Harper's Ferry, about 40.

I am, very respectfully, your obedient servant,

JOHN E. WOOL,

Major-General.

Major General H. W. HALLECK,

General-in-Chief.

[Addenda.]

BALTIMORE, September 2, 1862.

Colonel MILES, Harper's Ferry:

I have received your dispatch. Be on the lookout and keep up a vigilant reconnaissance. Let me know what is passing.

JOHN E. WOOL,

Major-General.

HARPER'S FERRY, September 4, 1862.

Major-General WOOL:

General White abandoned Winchester night before last, and with his troops arrived at this post yesterday afternoon. No enemy that I can hear of in the Valley of the Shenandoah, nor do I know if Winchester is occupied by him.

D. S. MILES,

Colonel Second Infantry.