Tuesday, March 28. - No change in position. There is a rumor that the enemy is making a demonstration in some force at Kinston, but I put Little confidence in the report.

Friday, March 31. - Receive my appointment as permanent commander of the Twenty-third Corps. The application which General Schofield made on this subject from Wilmington did not reach Washington, hence the delay, the matter not having been acted upon till General Sherman went up to see General Grant.

Thursday, April 6. - Receive news of the fall of Richmond and of a complete victory won by General Grant. This seems almost too good to be true, but comes in a way that looks authentic. We are nearly ready to move, and the army is pretty well rested, so that we can undertake our part of a new campaign at any time with good confidence of success.

Monday, April 10. - The last few days have been full of news. The rout of Lee's army after the fall of Richmond is confirmed, and everything indicates that the final scene of the drama of the Confederacy is at hand. On Saturday night our camp was all alive with an extempore jubilee, and the blaze of rockets, the music of the brass bands, and the firing of guns filled the air. To-day we move out for Raleigh. The Army of Georgia, under Slocum, moves on Smithfield in two columns, the Army of the Tennessee moves by roads to the right of Slocum, and I follow on the left of Slocum's two columns on the old Neuse road. Terry, with the Tenth Corps (now part of the Army of the Ohio), goes up on the other side of the Neuse. General Carter has been assigned to the Third Division, Twenty-third Corps. Reilly has resigned. Couch continues with the Second and Ruger with the First. The divisions move to-day in the order of their numbers. Marched at 1 o'clock and made eight miles, reaching the cross-road which leads to Cox's Bridge; the Twentieth Corps, ahead of us, having some skirmishing with the enemy's cavalry. A drizzling rain all the p.m. making the roads very bad and marching unpleasant.

Tuesday, April 11. - Marched at daylight, but the pontoon and other trains ahead of us delayed us so that we did not make over three miles before noon and not over ten miles in the whole day. The stragglers of the army have become much worse than they were in the Atlanta campaign, Two of the best residences along our road were burned to-day. One, the house of a Mr. Atkinson, where I stopped at noon to take lunch, was in flames half an hour after we left it; the soldiers suspect him of being a conscription agent for the rebel government, and this may account for his house being burned. Camp to-night at Mr. Whitley's eight miles from Smithfield. The roads are in a horrible condition. The soil si of such a consistency that it cuts through even when it is dry, and the rain we have had makes it, of course, no better. The news from Grant continues to be cheering. Lee is said to be not far from Danville, and his army fast going to ruin.

Wednesday, April 12. - Marched at 7 o'clock and made eighteen miles, reaching the junction of the Wilmington and Raleigh road with the road from Turner's Bridge. On the way we received the news of the surrender of Lee, and the army went nearly crazy with joy. Johnston has retreated to Raleigh, leaving Smithfield yesterday morning. We are full of hope that the last battle of the war has been fought. The surrender of Lee leaves Davis where further resistance is worse than useless, and it will be impossible for him to get the army of Johnston to fight under such circumstances. The country begins to be a Little