from the Secretary of War, and assurance from the recruiting officers that they were to serve only on the Eastern Shore of the

Chesapeake Bay as a home guard. In the present great public

emergency, this regiment, with others, under Brigadier-General Lockwood, was ordered to rendezvous at Point Lookout, on the western shoe of the bay, and hence to proceed for duty to Baltimore. All the regiment, Colonel Wallace commanding, responded promptly to this call, excepting 61 non-commissioned officers and privates of Company K, who refused to obey. Thirty of the men of that company, under command of their captain, went with the rest of the regiment. The regiment subsequently marched, as part of the brigade of General Lockwood, to Monocacy, where it became attached to the Army of the Potomac, under Major-General Meade, and is now in the field. In this state of facts, it is considered that those who hold to the strict letter of their agreement, and have not a zeal in the cause of their country and a patriotism broad enough to set aside such narrow considerations in this time of great emergency, are not of the stuff of which true soldiers are made, as are their companions of the regiment who have nobly taken the field for the general defense; and it is therefore ordered-

That the 61 men of Company K, First Eastern Shore Maryland Volunteers, now assembled at Cambridge, on the Eastern Shore, be deprived of their arms and accouterments, which are directed to be turned over to the ordnance officer of the Eighth Army Corps, at Baltimore. They will then consider themselves dishonorably dismissed from the service of the United States from this day; such dismissal being subject to the approval of the Secretary of War. In the meantime, they will return to their homes, transportation being furnished them for that purpose from Cambridge to Somerset County, where they were recruited. Second Lieutenant William J. Porter, of Company K, who is in charge of these men at Cambridge, will see to the execution of this order, after which he will, without delay, rejoin his company and regiment in the field, and report for duty to Colonel Wallace.

* * * * *

By command of Major-General Schenck:

WM. H. CHESEBROUGH,

Assistant Adjutant-General.

HEADQUARTERS Department of the East, New York City, July 2, 1863.

Admiral PAULDING,
Commanding Navy-Yard, Brooklyn:

ADMIRAL: The Roanoke has left for Hampton Roads. Unless you can furnish us with the Passaic and two or three gunboats, New York will be in a defenseless condition. I have been ordered to send the garrison at Fort Hamilton to Harrisburg; that leaves us with only one company of infantry to man the guns of Forts Hamilton and Richmond. I have a company of infantry at the Hook, one company (not full) of infantry at Fort Columbus, and 133 men, uninstructed in their artillery duties, at Fort Schuyler. By all which you will discover that $100, 000, 000 of property may be destroyed in a few hours by any vessel of the character and speed of the Alabama.

32 R R-VOL XXVII, PT III