to obey your very peremptory orders of to-day or not. Please excuse my stationery; it is such as I catch on the road, and I have to use your own envelope.

Very respectfully, your obedient servant,

HENRY A. WISE,

Brigadier-General.

Numbers 39.] CAMP GAULEY, VA., September 10, 1861-8 p.m.

Brigadier General HENRY A. WISE:

DEAR SIR: You are hereby peremptorily ordered to dispatch to me, immediately on the receipt of this, all of your disposable force saving one regiment, with which you will occupy your present position, unless you deem it expedient to fall back to a more eligible one. The enemy has attacked me in strong force, and the battle has been raging from 3.50 till 7 o'clock. I still hold my position, but think the enemy will renew the attack by day in the morning, with perhaps increased force.

Very respectfully, your obedient servant,

JOHN B. FLOYD.

(Signed by the adjutant-general, because General Floyd is disabled in the arm.)

[Indorsement.]

Received from Mr. Carr and Major Glass about 12 or 1 o'clock at night.

H. A. W.

SEPTEMBER 10, 1861.

To His Excellency JEFFERSON DAVIS,

President of the Confederate States of America:

The undersigned, citizens of Hardy County, Virginia, desire to call your attention to the exposed and suffering condition of our county. We have been invaded for the past two months by Northern thieves. Our houses have been forcibly entered and robbed. Our horses, cattle, and sheep in large numbers driven off. Our citizens arrested, carried of, and confined, only because they are loyal citizens of Virginia and the Southern Confederacy. Our cattle, sheep, and horses, to the amount of $30,000, have been forcibly taken from us and appropriated to the support of the Army of the United States.

Our county, unfortunately, is divided, the western portion being disloyal. The Union men, as they call themselves, have called upon Lincoln for protection. He, in answer to their call, has sent amongst us a set of base characters, who not only protect the Union men, but under their guidance are committing acts unheard of in any country claiming civilization. We have been wholly unprotected and unable to protect ourselves. Our enemies have met with no resistance. We do not complain, las it is perhaps impossible to give protection to all who are suffering like depredations; but we would suggest whether the interest of the Confederacy, apart from the large private interest involved, does not require the protection of our beef, our pork, and our corn for the use of the Southern Army. General Lee is now drawing his supply of corn from us. There is perhaps no valley in America of the same extend that produces more fat cattle and hogs than the valley of the South