they have, send a battalion to the intersection of the Red and Salt Sulphur Springs road to intercept them. Communicate to me, immediately, any information you have of their movements.

SAM. JONES,

Major-General.

RICHMOND, January 12, 1863.

General R. E. LEE, Fredericksburg, Va.:

I have received the following dispatch from Governor Vance:

Can you not spare General Lee to come down a few days and survey the situation in North Carolina? It would inspire confidence. A defeat here would be disastrous in more ways then one.

I send it to you to decide as to compliance whit the request. Your presence there would be important; indeed, seems necessary. You will know whether it is safe to absent yourself for a few days.

JEFFERSON DAVIS.

HEADQUARTERS ARMY OF NORTHERN VIRGINIA, January 12, 1863.

Major General SAMUEL JONES,
Commanding Department of Western Virginia, Dublin Depot:

GENERAL: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 6th instant, and approve of the course you have adopted with reference to General Jenkins' cavalry brigade. I hope the every effort will be made to restore it to efficient condition by the spring. I hope that Lieutenant-Colonel Witcher's cavalry will be sufficient to supply the present deficiency in the valley.

I have the honor to be, very respectfully, your obedient servant,

R. E. LEE,

General.

SUBSISTENCE BUREAU, Richmond, January 12, 1863.

Colonel L. B. NORTHROP,

Commissary-General, C. S. Army, Richmond:

COLONEL: On Friday last your ordered me to preceded to General Lee's headquarters, and lay before him a letter from Mr. H. B. Hoomes, commissary agent, to me, reporting that some 300,000 or 400,000 bushels of wheat could be procured from the counties of Rappahannock and Madison, the lower part of the country of Culpeper, and the upper part of the county of Fauquier, provided some wagons and cavalry could be procured; together with a letter from the honorable Secretary of War, and one from yourself, to General Lee on the same subject. You further directed me to obtain a personal interview with General Lee, and arrange, if possible, by that interview, some plan of system of procuring said supply of wheat, as you deemed it absolutely essential said wheat should be obtained.

I have the honor now to report that, in pursuance of your orders, I at once repaired to General Lee's headquarters, and presented said letters to General Lee, through General Chilto, his

adjutant-general, and through him requested the personal interview I was ordered by you to obtain. When I arrived, I was informed by General Chilton that General