FEBRUARY 19, 1865.

Brigadier General S. P. CARTER,

Morehead City:

I am informed that there is now an extra train at Morehead which can bring up a portion, if not all, of your command. Please let them come at once. If all cannot come now, leave the remainder under a judicious officer until to-morrow. Perhaps we will be able to send for all to-day.

Very respectfully,

I. N. PALMER,

Brigadier-General.

Operator inform Captain Wheeler of this.

I. N. P.

WAR DEPARTMENT,

Washington City, February 19, 1865.

Governor CURTIN,

Harrisburg, Pa.:

Last night this Department received the gratifying intelligence of the occupation of Columbia, the capital of South Carolina, by General Sherman, and the probable evacuation of Charleston by the enemy. Hasten on recruiting to fill up the Army, and the rebellion must receive its final blow in this spring campaign.

EDWIN M. STANTON,

Secretary of War.

(Same to Governor Brough, Columbus, Ohio; Governor Morton, Indianapolis, Ind; Governor Lewis, Madison, Wis. ; Governor Cony, Augusta, Me. ; Governor Smith, Saint Albans, Vt. ; Governor Andrew, Boston, Mass. ; Governor Gilmore, Concord, N. H. ; Governor Fenton, Albany, N. Y. ; Governor Fletcher, Saint Louis, Mo. ; Governor Carney, Leavenworth, Kans., and Governor Bramlette, Frankfort, Ky.)

CITY POINT, VA., February 20, 1865.

Honorable E. M. STANTON:

The following paragraphs are extracted from the Richmond papers of to-day:

We now know that Charleston was evacuated on Tuesday last, and that on Friday the enemy took possession of Columbia. It is reported that our forces under General Beauregard are moving in the direction of Charlotte. Official intelligence was received at the War Office last night that Sherman was on yesterday morning advancing toward and was near Winnsborough, a point on the railroad leading to Charlotte, and thirty miles north of Columbia.

Charlotte is thronged with refugees from Columbia, who report that some of Wheeler's cavalry plundered the city before the evacuation.

Up to Tuesday last it was uncertain whether Columbia would come within the immediate range of Sherman's proposed route, and consequently the public mind was not prepared for such an early solution of the question. The Government had, however, just two weeks ago, taken the precaution to remove its specie deposited there, amounting to several millions of dollars, and within the past few days all the dies and plates belonging to the Treasury Department, together with the supplies of treasury notes on hand, were safely conveyed away.

The enemy being in possession of Branchville, Orangeburg, and Kingsville, precluded movements on the roads leading to Charleston, and an unfortunate accident upon the Charlotte road, cutting off nearly all the rolling-stock of the road from