2. Bvt. Major General T. W. Egan, U. S. Volunteers, Brigadier General S. S. Carroll, U. S. Volunteers, Brigadier General J. R. Brooke, U. S. Volunteers, will report to Major-General Hancock for duty.

By order of the Secretary of War:

E. D. TOWNSEND,

Assistant Adjutant-General.

HEADQUARTERS SECOND ARMY CORPS,
February 26, 1865. (Received 10.25 a.m.)

Colonel G. D. RUGGLES,

Assistant Adjutant-General, Army of the Potomac:

Brigadier General William Hays is assigned to the temporary command of the Second Division. Thirteen deserters came in this morning, but upon examination no information if importance can be obtained.

A. A. HUMPHREYS,

Major-General, Commanding.

HEADQUARTERS SECOND ARMY CORPS,
February 26, 1865. (Received 9.30 p.m.)

Major-General WEBB:

If any deserters come in between midnight and morning, do you wish to know their regiment and brigade at once?

A. A. HUMPHREYS,

Major-General.

10.05 P. M.

Unless they bring report of some change or movement no report is desired by the major-general commanding until morning.

ALEX. S. WEBB,

Brevet Major-General and Chief of Staff.

CAMP OF HEADQUARTERS SECOND CORPS,

February 26, 1865.

Lieutenant General U. S. GRANT, U. S. Army:

GENERAL: There is a matter seriously affecting myself and other officers who hold commissions in the regular army and in the volunteer service, respecting which I wish to present my impression, although the subject is one of such delicacy that I question even now whether silence may not be better than discussion. I refer to the recent promotions to the rank of general officer by brevet in the regular army, by which I find so low an estimate placed upon services in the field and so high a one upon the subordinate administrative duties, chiefly not in the field. I have served three years continuously in the field without relaxation, and thought I had at least done something as a soldier and as a general of division. I did not suppose that at the end of the war I should find myself thrown back into my old place in the engineers with simply my old rank, without even that brevet rank which I should have gained in any war of the same duration, serving with my regular commission.