of the orders of his commander-in-chief, and tenders unasked advice to his superiors in command. The President does not desire to force on Brigadier-General Whiting the command of the brigade which had been assigned to him and which it was supposed he would feel honored in accepting, and you are requested to issue an order relieving Brigadier-General Whiting of the command of a Brigade of five Mississippi regiments as assigned to him by General Orders, Nos. 15 and 18, issued from this Department.

As there is no other brigade in the Army of the Potomac not already provided with a commander under the general orders of the Department, the services of Brigadier-General Whiting will no longer be needed for the command of troops. The President therefore further requests that Major W. H. C. Whiting of the Engineer corps of the Confederate States, be directed by your order to report for duty as engineer to Major-General Jackson, of the Valley District, where the services of this able engineer will be very useful to the Army.

In conclusion, the President requests me to say that he trusts you will hereafter decline to forward to him communications of your subordinates having so obvious a tendency to excite a mutinous and disorganizing spirit in the Army.

I am, very respectfully, your obedient servant,

J. P. BENJAMIN,

Secretary of War.

WAR DEPARTMENT, C. S. A.,

Richmond, December 27, 1861.

General JOSEPH E. JOHNSTON,

Commanding Department of Northern Virginia:

SIR: The President has received several communications from officers of regiments on your extreme right (including the Eleventh Mississippi Regiment), from which it seems that they anticipate being disturbed in their winter quarters by the effect of the General Orders, Nos. 15 and 18. The President desires me to say to you that he has not required and does not expect those troops to be disturbed in their winter quarters; he simply renews his oft-repeated request that the three regiments of Mississippians that were at Leesburg prior to General Griffith's arrival there be sent to join the two hitherto under General Whiting. These five regiments being assigned to General Van Dorn's division on the right, he knows no reason why they should not remain at the present headquarters of General Whiting's brigade, without disturbing the winter quarters of any of the regiments now under General Whiting. If the winter quarters of any of the troops are disturbed, the President must regret this unfortunate result, not of his orders, but of the unusual delay which has supervened in their execution, and which he could not have anticipated.

Your obedient servant,

J. P. BENJAMIN,

Secretary of War.

HEADQUARTER, Evansport, December 30, 1861.

General S. COOPER,

Adjutant and Inspector General, Richmond, Va.:

SIR: Since the withdrawal of Colonel Fagan's First Arkansas Regiment and the Fourteenth Alabama Regiment, Colonel Judge, from my.