division without the approval of the division commander, nor across Hampton Roads without the permission of the commanding officer of the district.

Soldiers will not be permitted to leave their regiment without permission of their colonel, nor to leave their brigade or division without the approval of the respective commanders thereof.

Soldiers on duty in the quartermaster' and commissary departments required to go continually to Portsmouth will be entered upon the proper alphabetical list.

In the event of an attack all families will be required to go to Porstmouth.

The discipline of any command may be know by the manner in which the guard duty is performed, and the commanding officer regrets to find it his duty to censure the almost universal neglect and carelessness that now prevails in this respect. The attention of all officers is hereby called to the necessity of an immediate and thorough reformation.

Sentinels who rest their muskets upon the ground, and do not walk their posts, and do talk with any one that will list to them, may be seen in every direction, and in a tour of inspection to the front, where an attack might have been expected at any moment, pickets not only left their horses, but without exception were lying upon their backs fully absorbed in the perusal of light literature.

Soldiers will not do their duty unless their officers require it to be done, and for inefficiency originating with the latter, they will be held responsible. The heavy labor of the trenches is nearly over, and let us one and all unite and gain for the command a reputation for cleanliness, order, and discipline that all will refer to with pride and satisfaction.

By command of Brigadier-General Naglee:

GEORGE H. JOHNSTON,

Assistant Adjutant-General.

HEADQUARTERS ARMY OF THE POTOMAC,
September 16, 1863-8. 40 a. m. (Received 9. 20 a. m.)

Major General H. W. HALLECK,

General-in-Chief:

As my advance will materially lengthen my line of communication, the guarding of which I have assigned to the Eleventh Corps, I feel justified in asking that the 500 men of that corps recently sent to Alexandria as a guard for drafted men may, if practicable, be relieved by troops from General Heintzelman's department.

GEO. G. MEADE,

Major-General.

HEADQUARTERS ARMY OF THE POTOMAC,

September 16, 1863-9 p. m. (Received 11. 40 p. m.)

Major General H. W. HALLECK,

General-in-Chief:

The army is in position around Culpeper Court-House-the right at Stone-House Mountain, the left at Stevensburg. The cavalry picket the river in front. Artillery firing has been kept up by the