[Indorsement.]

Copy of letter sent to Major Harman, at Staunton, to report upon the condition of the department. It is believed that officers of the Quartermaster's Department have been ordered to General Jackson's command..

Respectfully returned.

A. C. MYERS,

Quartermaster-General.

SPECIAL ORDERS,
HDQRS. ARMY OF THE POTOMAC,

Numbers 419.
October 12, 1861.

I. Major General James Longstreet is assigned to duty with the First Corps, Army of the Potomac, and will report to General G. T. Beauregard, commanding.

II. Major General T. J. Jackson is assigned to duty with the Second Corps, Army of the Potomac, and will report to Major General G. W. Smith, commanding.

By command of General Johnston:

THOS. G. RHETT,

Assistant Adjutant-General.

WAR DEPARTMENT, October 13, 1861.

General JOSEPH E. JOHNSTON,

Commander-in-Chief of the Army of the Potomac:

SIR: The Adjutant-General has referred to me your letter of 7th in stant in relation to the cantonments required for the troops during the ensuing winter. It is a source of deep regret to the Department to be brought face to face with this necessity. I had hoped almost against hope that the condition of the army would justify you in coming to the conclusion that some forward movement could be made, and that the roofs to shelter the troops during the approaching winter would be found on the other side of the Potomac; but our destitute condition so far as arms are concerned renders it impossible to increase your strength, whilst your recent report to the Adjutant-General develops the painful fact that nearly one-third of your numerical force is still prostrated by sickness.

I have paid earnest attention to the difficult problem now presented to us. The men must not, if it be possible to avoid it, be exposed to the inclemency of the winter under canvas alone. Taking it, then, for granted that the army is to be hunted, the first question that presents itself is, where are these huts to be built? This is a purely military question, which must be decided by yourself as commander-in-chief of the Army of the Potomac. It is evidently impossible that I should undertake to decide for you on the proper locality of your winter quarters, as this is a question dependent on many considerations, such quarters, as this is a question dependent on many considerations, such as fuel, water, defensive works, &c., involving a minute knowledge of the topography and resources of the country, familiar to you and unknown to me.

Under the circumstances, and the pressing importance of the subject not admitting of delay, I have availed myself of the able co-operation of the Secretary of State, whose intimate knowledge of the resources of his native State and whose zeal and patriotism have rendered him an invaluable counselor in this emergency. Through his aid I have secured