After all the troops have passed through this department it is likely that the forces above enumerated could with safety be still further reduced, and I am inclined to think that in the course of a month or two, one regiment of cavalry will be sufficient in the Kanawha Valley; but before deciding this last question, I propose to visit that portion of the department, as the reports of the necessity for troops there are somewhat contradictory. I have written to know what the general's views are with regard to the three veteran regiments, but have not as yet received the answer. If it is deemed desirable to muster them out, their places could be supplied by one-year troops. But as these troops will be broken up into small detachments, it is really my opinion that, unless they are good and well disciplined troops, they will do more harm that good. I have now mentioned all the volunteer force that will remain in this department except a single four gun battery of West Virginia troops stationed at Clarksburg, which I propose to hold for a few weeks longer before mustering it out, but if it is thought best to muster it out at once I doubt if any inconvenience will result from it. In all the various hospitals in the department the mustering out is now completed and the hospitals closed with the exception of those ordered to be kept open by the War Department, in which men are constantly arriving from points outside of the department and are being mustered out under existing orders, and it is not clear to me why these men, such as are fit subjects for muster out, are not mustered out at the points from which they are sent, thus saving their transportation.

I am, sir, very respectfully, your obedient servant,

W. H. EMORY,

Brevet Major-General, Commanding.

SPECIAL ORDERS, HDQRS. DISTRICT OF ALEXANDRIA, NINTH ARMY CORPS, Alexandria, Va., No. 64. July 8, 1865.

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2. Bvt. Brigadier General H. H. Wells, U. S. Volunteers, will, in addition to his duties as provost-marshal-general, Defenses South of the Potomac, perform the duties of post commandant at Alexandria, Va. All troops serving in the city under the command of Brigadier-General Slough, military governor, will report to Brevet-General Wells and be subject to his orders.

3. Bvt. Brigadier General John I. Curtin, U. S. Volunteers, is hereby relieved from duty as commanding officer of the Third Division, Ninth Army Corps, and will resume command of the First Brigade, Second Division, Ninth Army Corps.

* * * * *

By command of Major General John G. Parke:

JNO. D. BERTOLETTE,
Assistant Adjutant-General.

GENERAL ORDERS, HDQRS. DEPARTMENT OF VIRGINIA, Numbers 86. Richmond, Va., July 10, 1865.

I. The Third Division of the Twenty-fourth Army Corps is dissolved and the troops hitherto composing it will hereafter constitute the First

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