conducted, and they will tolerate no delays in the transaction of such business that are not unavoidable.

By command of Major-General Hooker:

S. WILLIAMS,

Assistant Adjutant-General.

HEADQUARTERS FIRST CAVALRY BRIGADE,
Camp near Hope Landing, March 4, 1863.

Major MARKELL,

Commanding Pickets:

MAJOR: I neglected to inform you that the Twelfth Illinois having been ordered away from Dumfries, you will patrol the Telegraph road to the same extent that it was patrolled by that regiment.

You will also send in a full report of the attack on your pickets and forage party, especially in reference to the attack on Company M. The report will show what disposition was made by the officer in charge to prevent a surprise, and the character of his defense. The attack must have been made by a small party, and it should have been defeated.

If the conduct of the officer was not perfectly satisfactory, you will send him in arrest to these headquarters, with a full statement of the particulars.

You will be relieved by the Third Indiana to-day or to-morrow. The picket-line will be drawn in some 5 or 6 miles. The colonel desires that you reconnoiter a new line at about that distance from the old, so that when the officer arrives he can post his pickets without delay; you will then withdraw yours and return to camp.

By order of Colonel Davis, commanding brigade:

E. B. PARSONS,

Assistant Adjutant-General.

HEADQUARTERS ARMY OF THE POTOMAC,
March 4, 1863.

Major-General SLOCUM:

Your dispatch of March 1, from Dumfries, to H. C. Rodgers, speaking of a force at Warrenton, &c., by some accident was mislaid, and I did not see it until this a. m. Colonel Wyndham, with 2,000 cavalry, was at Warrenton on Friday last. Was it not him? Can you get us further information on the subject?

DANL. BUTTERFIELD,

Major-General and Chief of Staff.

MARCH 4, 1863.

Brigadier General L. THOMAS,

Adjutant-General, U. S. Army:

I respectfully request authority to send upon the recruiting service for the batteries of this army, 1 regular and 15 volunteer officers. Our batteries require over 3,000 recruits, and as the artillery is a popular arm of the service, I trust the efforts of recruiting officers directly interested will result in supplying us with the men we need.

JOSEPH HOOKER,

Major-General, Commanding.