It is desired and of much importance that the reconnaissance be made as early as possible to develop the fact whether or not the enemy are in force on our front.

Very respectfully, your obedient servant,

H. C. WHIPPLE,

Captain and Assistant Adjutant-General.

NORFOLK, VA., January 25, 1865.

Colonel MORRISON, Commanding, Fort Magruder, Va.:

General Ord has directed that the Purnell cavalry remain on Eastern Shore for the present. You will therefore retain the company Twentieth New York Cavalry.

By order of Brigadier-General Shepley:

WICKHAM HOFFMAN,

Assistant Adjutant-General.

HEADQUARTERS NAVAL BRIGADE,
James River, January 25, 1865.

Lieutenant Colonel ED. W. SMITH, Assistant Adjutant-General, &c.:

COLONEL: I respectfully request to be relieved from duty with this command and ordered to report for duty in the field. At the time I was ordered to report to Major-General Butler for duty in the Department of Virginia and North Carolina, I was assigned to the command of al the army gun-boats within its waters, and details from regiments serving in the department were transferred to me, wherewith to man them. When the command was assumed (December, 1863) little activity prevailed on the land, owing to the advanced season of the year and the wretched condition of the roads; but it was practicable to make raids with the boats, and for that reason alone I accepted it. After active operations in the field commenced, however, I frequently requested Major-General Butler ot transfer me to another command, but he objected, because, in his judgment, the services of the brigade had been valuable in the early part of the campaign, and he entertained the impression that they would become so again when the campaign was transferred to the State of North Carolina. Now that the State of North Carolina no longer forms a portion of the department, and the field for the usefulness of the brigade is consequently narrowed, I respectfully submit that both my rank in the army and the services I have hitherto rendered entitle me to be transferred to a more important command.

Very respectfully, your obedient servant,

CHARLES K. GRAHAM,

Brigadier-General.

NEAR ROANOKE ISLAND, January 25, 1865.

(Via Fort Monroe 26th.)

Lieutenant-General GRANT:

Admiral Porter has ordered all gun-boats that can be spared from the Sound to New Berne, as he says that Holke is going to attack that place. I do not know how the admiral received the information. My scouts, who are constantly out, report nothing unusual in the direction of Kinston.

I. N. PALMER,

Brigadier-General.