HEADQUARTERS ARMY OF NORTHERN VIRGINIA,
July 21, 1863.

GENERAL: I have see in the Northern papers what purported to be an official dispatch of General Meade, stating that he had captured large number of small-arms, as this army retired to the Potomac, and the 13th and 14th instant. The dispatch has been copied into the Richmond papers, and as its official charger may cause it to believed, I desire to state that it in incorrect. The enemy did not capture any organized body of men on that occasion, but only stragglers and such as were left asleep on the road, exhausted by the fatigue and exposure of one of the most inclement nights I have ever known at this season of the year. It rained, without cessation, rendering the road by which our troops marched to the brigade of Falling Waters very difficult to pass, and causing so much delay that the last of the troops did not cross the river at the brigade until 1 p. m. on the 14th. While the column was thus detained on the road, a number of men, worn down with fatigue, lay down in barns and by the roadside, and though officers were sent back to arouse them as the troops moved on, the darkness and rain prevented them from finding all, and many were in this way left behind. The two guns were left in the road. The horses that drew them became exhausted and the officers went forward to procure others. When they returned, the rear of the column had passed the guns so far that it was deemed unsafe to send back for them, and they were thus lost. No arms, cannon, or prisoners were take by the enemy in battle, but only such as were left behind under the circumstances I have described. The number of stragglers thus lost I am unable to state with accuracy, but it is greatly exaggerated in the dispatch referred to .

I am, with great respect, your obedient servant.

R. E. LEE, General.

General S. COOPER,

Adjutant and Inspector General, Richmond, Va.

HEADQUARTERS THIRD DIVISION, CAVALRY CORPS,
August 10, 1863.

CAPTAIN: I have the honor to submit the following report of the part taken by the Third Division in the Maryland and Pennsylvania campaign:On June 29, in compliance with orders from headquarters Cavalry Corps, I assumed command of the Third Division, till then known as Stahel's division. The actual strength of the division was 3, 500 although it numbered on paper upward of 4, 000 men for duty. On the morning, consisting of June, 29 the First Brigade(General Farnsworth), consisting of the Fifth West Virginia Cavalry, and Elder's battery, U. S. Horse Artillery, left Frederick City, and marched to Littlestown, Pa. The Second Brigade(General Custer), consisting of the First, Flight,