HEADQUARTERS,
Fredericksburg, Va., January 22, 1863.

Colonel J. GORGAS, Chief of Ordnance:

COLONEL: I have had the honor to receive your letter* of the 20th instant, and beg leave to thank you for your attention to me requests. I hope you will be able to get the carriages for the Whitworth guns made without delay, and the ten napoleons, now in progress, finished at once. I assure you both kinds of guns are wanted with this, army this very day. The enemy is moving to the line of the Rappahannock, above and below Fredericksburg; and, from his preparations, it would seem to be his intention to cross. The guns in question would add materially to our ability to resist him.

I am, with great respect, your obedient servant,

R. E. LEE,

General.

HEADQUARTERS ARMY OF NORTHERN VIRGINIA,
January 22, 1863.

Colonel J. D. IMBODEN, Commanding, &c.:

COLONEL: Your letter has been receive, with the accompanying documents, on the subject of changing the organization of your corps and increasing its strength. i hope you will proceed at once with the good work. i cannot at present spare the Twenty-fifth and Thirty-first Virginia Regiments. The four companies of the Twenty-fifth Virginia Regiment, now at the Warm springs, and promised to you by the War Department, properly belong here to the Twenty-fifth. You can take them, and let them serve as a basis on which to recruit for the regiment, until the two portions can be brought together. The men who do not desire to join other regiments you can recruit for these two (the Thirty first and Twenty-fifth) and keep them attached to your command for the time being. I think some arrangements were made, while this army was in the valley, to recruit for these regiments. i inclose to you the original documents from General Cooper, &c., as you request; also the letter of major Thompson, the indorsement on which please note. I hope you will meet with speedy success in filing up your command to a brigade, when I shall take great pleasure in recommending you for promotion.

I am, very respectfully, your obedient servant,

R. E. LEE,

General.

HEADQUARTERS ARMY OF NORTHERN VIRGINIA,
January 22, 1863.

Honorable JAMES A. SEDDON,

Secretary of War:

SIR: With the view of increasing the supply of wheat in Richmond, I would suggest, if it has not already been done, that all the grain in the counties adjacent to the James River and Kanawha Canal be purchased, and conveyed by means of the canal to Richmond. I have been told that there is a large quantity of wheat in the counties of Rockbridge,

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*Not found.

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