toilsome marches, it is not to be thought strange that some regiments which left Winchester with nearly 600 men should now, short as the time has been, report less than 200 men for duty.

Instead of finding, as expect, a little repose during midwinter, we are ordered to remain at this place. Our position at and near Romney is one of the most disagreeable and unfavorable that could well be imagined. We can only get an encampment upon the worst of wet, spounty land, much of which when it rains is naught but one see of water and a consequent corresponding depth of mud, and this, too, without the advantage of sufficient wood, the men having to drag that indispensable article down from high up on the mountain side.

We are within a law miles of the enemy and of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, which imposes upon our men the continued hardship of very heavy picket duty, which will in a short time tell terribly upon their health and strength. We regard Romney as a place difficult to hold, and of no strategical importance after it is held. Besides, the country around it for some distance has already been by the enemy exhausted of its supplies. Your army could be maintained much more comfortably, and at much less expense, and with every military advantage, at almost any other place.

Another consideration we would endeavor to impress upon your mind: All must be profoundly impressed with, the paramount importance of raising an army for the next summer's campaign. When we left Winchester, a very large proportion of your army, with the benefit of a short furlough, would have enlisted for the war, but now, with the present prospect before them, we doubt if one single man would re-enlist. But if they are yet removed to a position where their spirits could be revived, many, we think, will go for the war.

In view of all these considerations and many others that might be presented, we ask that you present the condition of your command to the War Department, and earnestly ask that it may be ordered to some more favorable position.

Respectfully,

WM. B. TALIAFERRO,

Colonel, Commanding Fourth Brigade Northwestern Army.

SAML. V. FULKERSON,

Colonel Thirty-seventh Virginia Volunteers.

VAN H. MANNING,

Major, Commanding Third Arkansas Volunteers.

J. W. ANDERSON,

Major, Commanding First Georgia Regiment.

A. V. SCOTT,

Captain, Commanding Twenty-third Virginia Volunteers.

JESSE S. BURKS,

Colonel, Commanding Third Brigade Northwestern Army.

D. A. LANGHORNE,

Lieutenant-Colonel, Commanding Forty-second Virginia Volunteers.

P. B. ADAMS,

Major, Forty-second Virginia Volunteers.

J. Y. JONES,

Captain, Commanding First Battalion P. A. C. S..

R. H. CUNNINGHAM, JR.,

Captain Commanding Twenty-first Virginia Volunteers.

JOHN A. CAMPBELL,

Colonel, Commanding Forty-eight Virginia Volunteers.