the expedition reaches Clarksburg or Grafton, as I hope it will successfully, we may obtain valuable supplies.

With great respect, sir, your obedient servant,

SAM. JONES,

Major-General.

HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF WESTERN VIRGINIA, Dublin, April 22, 1863.

Brigadier General JOHN S. WILLIAMS, Saltville:

GENERAL: I have received your notes and telegrams, and am glad to hear of the reported safety of Marshall, and that there is no immediate prospect of the advance of the enemy in force from Kentucky.

Colonel Wharton will remain for the present near Glade Spring with his brigade, and the companies of Jenkins' brigade whose horses are in the adjoining counties to Washington and Smyth will remain near Saltville, where their horses will be collected as soon as practicable. The latter will be under your command for the present, until their places can be supplied by the companies of cavalry which Colonel [William E.] Peters and Major [H. A.] Edmundson are forming. I am informed that Colonel [H. M.] Beckley has some fifteen or seventeen companies in Logan and the adjoining counties. They will be under your command. As soon as I can do so, I will give you such a force as will enable you to carry out the plan proposed for raising troops in Kentucky. In the meantime I wish you to gain all the information you can from Kentucky. Communicate with Marshall, if you can, and send him the accompanying letter.*

Captain [D. B.] Thompson is engaged on some special service at present, but will be ordered to report to you in a few days. In the meantime the commissary of the Sixty-third Virginia Regiment can supply such subsistence stores as you want.

Major J. B. Harvie, assistant quartermaster, was ordered on the 12th instant to report to you.

Very respectfully, &c.,
SAM. JONES,

Major-General.

HDQRS. ARMY OF NORTHERN VIRGINIA, April 23, 1863.

Honorable JAMES A. SEDDON,

Secretary of War:

SIR: I have had the honor to receive your letter of the 19th instant, and am pleased to see the efforts you are making to furnish the army with proper supplies. I hope they may be successful, for I am painfully anxious lest the spirit and efficiency of the men should become impaired, and they be rendered unable to sustain their former reputation, or perform the service necessary for our safety. A report from Port Royal this morning at half past 8 o'clock states that the enemy was crossing the Rappahannock at that point. Eight or ten boats, containing 20 or 30 men each, had crossed the river, and wagons supposed to contain more boats were approaching the bank. A brigade of the enemy was all that was visible. It may be an effort to ascertain our position.

A dispatch from General Stuart at 9.30 a.m. to-day states that the camp-fires of the enemy were visible at Waterloo last night, and that a small party crossed the Rappahannock and went as far as Amissville and Little Washington on the 21st instant, but returned immediately

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*Not found.

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