Ruger and N. C. McLean, moved to Moseley Hall, N. C., upon the Atlantic and North Carolina Railroad, ten miles below Goldsborough. These forces were so distributed as to protect the railroad from the operations of the guerrilla bands and irregular troops which constantly harassed the flanks of the army and threatened its means of supply. After great labor in felling trees and constructing stations in a level country, all points occupied by these troops were placed in direct communication with the headquarters of Major-General Couch. Reference to Appendix C, Stations Numbers 11 to 15, will show the points thus occupied, their direction, and the distances signaled. Communication between the headquarters of Major-General Terry, at Faison's Depot, N. C., on the Wilmington railroad, and Goldsborough, N. C., was not impossible, but the immense labor requisite to place the line of stations in working order would have consumed so much time, even with the assistance of a strong pioneer force, to render it of any considerable value before the establishment of telegraphic communication between those points.

Upon the 1st of April the troops of the department having been consolidated in two army corps, the Tenth and Twenty-third, I applied for orders to reorganize the detachment in a manner to meet the requirements of this new organization. Upon the 2nd I received Special Orders, Numbers 19, paragraph 7, headquarters Department of North Carolina, Army of the Ohio, of that date, directing such reorganization. This was accomplished without necessitating the abandonment of the lines then in operation. This revision complete, assigned First Lieutenant Thomas P. Rushby, Signal Corps, U. S. Army, to duty as chief signal officer, Tenth Army Corps; First Lieutenant Joseph B. Knox, Signal Corps, U. S. Army, to duty as chief signal officer, Twenty-third Army Corps. Each was accompanied by a party of three officers with the complement of enlisted men. A reserve of two officers with a strong force of enlisted men remained at department headquarters. Upon the 9th of April all stations were discontinued, and on the morning of the 10th the army marched upon Raleigh, N. C., occupying that city upon the 13th. A permanent station of observation was at once established upon the dome of the capitol, whence communication was opened upon the 14th of April with the headquarters of the Tenth and Twenty-third Army Corps, then without the city limits. These troops moved upon the 15th so near department headquarters as to render further communication unnecessary. The station of observation was continued. Upon the 20th of April the records of the detachment arrived from Washington, D. C., but the necessary books for their classification did not reach me until three weeks afterward. The delay, confusion, and embarrassment consequent upon the protracted non-arrival of these documents I need not dwell upon, nor remark further than to say their deprivation was in many instances a serious hindrance to the efficiency of the corps.

Upon the 5th of May the Twenty-third Army Corps moved to Greensborough, N. C., the Tenth Army Corps still occupying Raleigh. Upon the 15th, by Special Orders, Numbers 208, paragraph 2, War Department, Adjutant-General's Office, dated Washington, May 5, 1865, all acting signal officers in the department were relieved from signal duty and remanded to their regiments. The signal detachments at army corps headquarters, being no longer available for service as distinct organizations, I recommended they should be consolidated for purposes of better instruction and discipline. Upon the 26th of May Special Orders, Numbers 70, headquarters Department of North Carolina, Army of the Ohio, dis-