HEADQUARTERS HOOKER'S DIVISION,
Camp Baker, Lower Potomac, Maryland, November 7, 1861.

Brigadier General S. WILLIAMS,

Assistant Adjutant-General, Army of the Potomac:

My picket report to me that the rebel steamer Page made her escape at 3 o'clock this morning. The wind was blowing fiercely when she left, and it was so dark that any effort to check her with our battery would have been ineffectual. She passed to the southward, probably to Aquia Creek. Of the whereabouts of the flotilla during this time I am not informed. It is also reported to me that the troops on the opposite side of the river are withdrawing, and that the movement commenced on yesterday. They are moving to the sough likewise.

I have received reports from several of the precincts at which the election was held yesterday. So far as heard from it passed off quietly, and a much larger Union vote was polled than anticipated. One arrest was made at Port Tobacco, but after an examination of the case I found that he had been arrested on suspicion only. Finding no evidence against him, he was discharged.

I have directed all the ambulances and wagons belonging to the general depot to be returned, including those which I had temporarily retained for the use of Lieutenant-Colonel Getty's command. Several regiments of the Second Brigade have remaining but three wagons, and it is out of question for that number to do the necessary hauling for the regiment. Lieutenant-Colonel Getty also informs me that he requires six additional wagons, and I concur with him. It is an ill advised economy to require two or three teams to do the work of six or eight.

I have given directions for the brigade surgeons to select some central point for the establishment of brigade hospitals, and if they should not be able to find suitable structures for their accommodation, I propose to put up log houses for that purpose. It requires but little time to do it, and it is better for the men to have employment than to be idle. The only difficulty I apprehend in their construction will be to find suitable timber for the roofing. The experience of the last week has satisfied me that the sick require something more than canvas to shelter them from the storms. As soon as the brigade hospitals are established I intend to break up those at Camp Union and Good Hope, and have the invalids transferred to them. I also propose to arrest the practice of sending them from here to Washington. I know of no reason why the sick cannot be as well cared for here as elsewhere, and in that opinion I am sustained by the senior medical officer of the division. Hereafter I intend to locate my encampments in the edge of the forests, when it can be done without the sacrifice of position, as they will afford shelter and protection to the tents, and will enable my command to supply themselves with wood without purchase. I can see no good reason for not supplying ourselves with fuel when we can help ourselves to it. Some regiments have made no purchase of this article since their arrival here.

I wish to call the attention of the Major-General Commanding that I have twice made a requisition for the work on Bayonet Exercises-once while at Camp Union, and again since I reached this camp. Two of the regiments in my old brigade are proficient in that drill, and I desire to have them all; not that battles are often decided by the use of that weapon, but it inspires men with confidence in the use of the their pieces in all service they may be called on to render. It is estimated that one man who