Captain Jesse Merrill, signal officer, U. S. Army, chief of signal corps.

Captain John H. Young, Fifteenth U. S. Infantry, commissary of musters.

First Lieutenant Henry M. Cist, Seventy-fourth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, acting assistant adjutant-general.

First Lieutenant William L. Porter, Fifty-sixth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, acting aide-de-camp.

First Lieutenant M. J. Kelly, Fourth U. S. Cavalry, chief of couriers.

ON DUTY AT NASHVILLE, TENN.

Lieutenant Colonel J. L. Donaldson, quartermaster, U. S. Army, senior and supervising quartermaster.

Surg. William Clendenin, U. S. Volunteers, assistant medical director.

Captain J. Bates Dickson, U. S. Volunteers, assistant adjutant-general.

Captain R. M. Goodwin, Thirty-seventh Indiana Volunteer Infantry, assistant provost-marshal-general.

First Lieutenant George K. Sanderson, Fifteenth U. S. Infantry, assistant commissary of musters.

By command of Major General George H. Thomas:

WM. D. WHIPPLE,

Assistant Adjutant-General.

WASHINGTON, January 10, 1864.

Major-General GRANT:

I am authorized to say to you that just as soon as you deem everything to be safe in East Tennessee you are authorized to move with such troops as you think necessary, either against Mobile or any other place south of your present lines that you may think it advisable to attack. The question of safety in East Tennessee is, as you will observe, left to your judgment, and it is for you to determine whether that safety is best obtained by wholly expelling Longstreet, or by leaving an army to observe and operate against him while you send or take the main body of your command elsewhere. If you do not think General Foster can be trusted to complete what is begun, say so to me, and I presume any change you may deem needful will be made, though I am not authorized to promise anything on that head. Please acknowledge the receipt of this dispatch, as that will avoid the necessity of repeating it by a special messenger.

C. A. DANA.

HEADQUARTERS ANDERSON CAVALRY,
James Evans' Ford, 5 miles from Dandridge, South side French Broad, on Newport Road,

January 10, 1864-12 m.

Lieutenant SHAW,

Act. Asst. Adjt. General, Headquarters Cavalry Corps:

I have the honor to report that 2 deserters belonging to Twenty-first and Eighteenth Mississippi Infantry, Humphreys' (formerly Barksdale's)