HEADQUARTERS DISTRICT OF WESTERN VIRGINIA, Marietta, Ohio, January 21, 1863.

Major N. H. McLEAN,
Chief of Staff, Cincinnati, Ohio:

Dispatches of the commanding general of the 19th and 20th, in regard to moving troops, just received.* The order shall be obeyed. No news from General Scammon, except that he reports the enemy are sending flags of truce to different points in front, apparently with the intention of finding positions and the strength of our forces. He sent a letter to General Samuel Jones, commanding Confederate forces, rebuking him. I will let you know when the troops will start. There is no Tenth Regiment in our command. I suppose you mean the Eleventh.

J. D. COX,

Major-General, Commanding.

MARIETTA, OHIO, January 21, 1863.

Major N. H. McLEAN,

Chief of Staff, Cincinnati, Ohio:

Since sending my dispatch, I have received a dispatch from General Scammon, of which I send you a copy:

FAYETTE, 21ST, 1863.

Major-General COX:

Reported that enemy, with three regiments of infantry and one of cavalry, are at Raleigh. If it proves true, can I have part of Crook's force, sent up to relieve Hayes?

E. P. SCAMMON,

Brigadier-General.

Will this make any change in the movement ordered? I have ordered the necessary arrangements made. Shall I delay movement till I hear from you again?

J. D. COX,

Major-General.

MARIETTA, OHIO, January 21, 1863.

Brigadier-General SCAMMON, Fayette, [W.] Va.:

Yours, this date, received at the same time with one from department headquarters, as follows:

Major-General COX:

I am instructed to send all the troops that can be possibly spared to General Rosecrans; and I think that the condition of the roads since the storm will allow of four regiments being withdrawn from the Kanawha. Please send by boat to this point, say, the Eleventh, Thirty-sixth, Eighty-ninth, and Ninety-second Ohio Regiments. Leave General Scammon in command, and send+

* * * * *

H. G. WRIGHT,

Major-General, Commanding.

To leave the regiment at Gauley, attack the enemy at Raleigh with four regiments of infantry and Paxton's cavalry, whip them, and them

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*Reference is to orders sending four regiments, under General Crook, from West Virginia to re-enforce the Army of the Cumberland. See Series I, Vol. XXIII.

+Several lines here illegible.

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