HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF WASHINGTON, TWENTY-SECOND ARMY CORPS,
Washington, D. C., May 17, 1865.

Major General JOHN G. PARKE,

Commanding District of Alexandria:

GENERAL: The major-general commanding directs me, in reply to your communication of the 16th instant, to inform you that he does not wish, at present, to send troops, as proposed by Brigadier-General Gamble, to the vicinity of Middleburg and Leesburg.

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

J. H. TAYLOR,

Chief of Staff and Assistant Adjutant-General.

HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF WASHINGTON, TWENTY-SECOND ARMY CORPS,
Washington, D. C., May 17, 1865.

Brevet Major-General BARTLETT,

Port Tobacco:

GENERAL: The Cavalry Corps, Army of the Potomac, has arrived and is camped near Alexandria. Please send up dismounted men belonging to it.

Respectfully,

J. H. TAYLOR,

Chief of Staff and Assistant Adjutant-General.

WASHINGTON, May 18, 1865.

Honorable E. M. STANTON,

Secretary of War:

With the view of reducing expenses and breaking up numerous headquarters, I would recommend that orders be issued discontinuing the Tenth, Twenty-third, and Twenty-fourth Corps; General Gibbon to report to General Halleck for assignment; General Cox to report to General Schofield; General Terry to take command of the Department of the South, and General Gillmore to report to the Adjutant-General of the Army for orders.

U. S. GRANT,

Lieutenant-General.

RICHMOND, VA., May 18, 1865.

(Received 11 a. m.)

Lieutenant General U. S. GRANT,

Washington:

To avoid any misunderstanding among district and local commanders, I suggest that an order be issued that the Department of Virginia will include so much of that State as lies west of the Chesapeake Bay and south of the Rappahannock River, and of the counties of Fauquier, Warren, and Shenandoah.

H. W. HALLECK,

Major-General.