go by rail, and everything works admirably. Please request provost-marshal to send stragglers to report to Captain Lewis as soon as possible.

LEWIS B. PARSONS,

Colonel and Chief of Rail and River Transportation.

178 1/2.] XENIA, January 24, 1865.

J. B. FORD,

Agent Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, Wheeling, Va.:

It is so severely cold I fear troops may suffer in going over the mountains. I hope you will provide stoves, straw, and coffee, and make them as comfortable as possible. I am on my way to Columbus. Telegraph me there to-night how many trains have gone east and how many are waiting to go.

LEWIS B. PARSONS,

Colonel and Chief of Rail and River Transportation.

179.] COLUMBUS, January 24, 1865-10 p. m.

W. PRESCOTT SMITH,

Baltimore, Md.:

I find trains are arriving so fast at Bellaire that I have ordered the trains of to-morrow not to leave Cincinnati till evening.

LEWIS B. PARSONS,

Colonel and Chief Rail and River Transportation.

179 1/2.] COLUMBUS, January 25, 1865.

J. B. FORD,

Agent Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, Wheeling, Va.:

Major-General Couch, commanding the Twenty-third Army Corps, has issued the following order, which please promptly furnish by copy to the commanding officer of every train, and send to such other places as you think proper.

LEWIS B. PARSONS,

Colonel and Chief of Rail and River Transportation.

180.]

ORDER.] HEADQUARTERS TWENTY-THIRD ARMY CORPS,

Columbus, Ohio, January 25, 1865.

All commanding officers of trains will have company officers in the trains with their men. All commanding officers of trains will have established guards at stopping places, and see that no depredations are committed by the troops, and that all liquor shops are closed. Railroad officers are expected to report to me the regiment guilty of depredation.

D. N. COUCH,

Major-General.