attack from irresponsible newspaper correspondents, which unhappily influence and make public opinion.

It is, however, my own desire, as well as that of my commanders, that whatever consolidation may be made, this division may form a that of a corps commanded by yourself. You have led us in battle and shared with us the toil of weary marches; the officers and men of the division feel toward you that confidence which can spring up only during an active campaign.

I remain, general, very respectfully,

A. VON STEINWEHR,

Brigadier-General, Commanding Second Division.

BALTIMORE, July 29, 1863-6. 05 p. m.

Brigadier-General SCHOEPF,

Fort Delaware, Del.:

It is thought there is danger to the locks of the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal. If you can spare it from your Fifth Delaware companies, detail a guard to watch and defend them from injury.

By order:

DONN PIATT,

Lieutenant -Colonel, and Chief of Staff.

CHAMBERSBURG, July 29, 1863.

Brigadier-General SMITH:

Send two regiments and one battery at once to report at camp of instruction, Reading, Pa. I will have transportation ready for them when they arrive here. Telegraph me when they leave Hagerstown.

By command of Major-General Couch:

JNO. S. SCHULTZE,

Major, and Assistant Adjutant-General.

GENERAL ORDERS,
HDQRS. EIGHTEENTH ARMY CORPS,

Numbers 105.
New Berne, July 29, 1863.

The undersigned having been assigned by His Excellency the President of the United States to the command of the Department of Virginia and North Carolina, Brig. General Ignis N. Palmer is hereby ordered to the command to the Eighteenth Army Corps, and of the post and districts occupied by that corps . As the enlargement of his command will remove the major-general commanding from immediate association with the corps he had so long had the honor of commanding, he desires to express to them the satisfaction he has always felt at the courage, discipline, and invariably good conduct exhibited by them. He hopes that on future fields under his command they will sustain their high reputation and vie in Honorable rivalry with their companions of the Seventh Army Corps, many of whom are old friends, comrades, and sharers of the glories and perils of the Burnside expedition.

By command of Major General J. G. Foster:

[SOUTHARD HOFFMAN,]

Assistant Adjutant-General.