II. Captain Wilder, on being relieved, will immediately report to Major Plato, headquarters Army of the James, for duty.

III. Lieutenant-Colonel Coughlin will at once proceed to make, or have made, an inventory of the property on hand, also a roll, or series of rolls, of all the able-boldied negroes, made and female, in the district, specifying their names and sex, and number of children, old or helpless persons depending upon each, and the district occupied by them. A police force of the able bodied men will be organized into companies, to be mustered and paid as soldiers, and all other able-bodied men will be required to employ themselves at some useful labor in their own, in public, or in private service, or will be mustered into service as soldiers.

IV. The unoccupied men will be given one week after this notice to find employment or to decide whether they will enter the United States service as soldiers, teamsters, or laborers. In each case a roll of such soldiers, teamsters, or laborers will be made and forwarded to headquarters of the department.

V. Mechanics, skilled laborers, oystermen, or others who can and will employ themselves at their business will be encouraged to do so, and protected therein. All taxes upon such employed negroes will hereafter be remitted.

Vi. The wives and families of colored soldiers will be protected and supported. Where members of such families are able to labor for their own support, and have no parents or children to take care of, a list of such will be made out, and they will be required to find employment for themselves in some useful and moral manner. In case they cannot find employment themselves place will be provided from them as nurses, laundresses, or in private service.

VII. No special rates or pieces of labor are to be fixed at present, except in the Government service.

VIII. When land can be found deserted by the owners, or in possession of the Colored Bureau, and where farms are cultivated by colored persons, on their own account, or under the direction of officers of the Bureau of Negro Affairs, or by the Government agents, the working of such farms or lands will be considered useful employment, and the colored population will be encouraged in such labor.

IX. A list of such farms, and the persons employed on each, the property in hand, number of across under cultivation, and of the stock and crop raised, will be forwarded to headquarters as soon as can be done.

X. Lieutenant-Colonel Couglin will report directly to headquarters of the department, and have control of all the Bureau ot Negro Affairs, and what pertains thereto, between the James and York Rivers.

By command of Major-General Ord:

R. S. DAVIS,

Assistant Adjutant-General.

FEBRUARY 22, 1865-1.20 P. M.

Brigadier-General GRAHAM:

Is the firing we hear on your front?

JNO. W. TURNER,

Brigadier-General and Chief of Staff.