CONFIDENTIAL.] JULY 10, 1863-5. 30 a. m.

Major General J. E. B. STUART:

GENERAL: I received last evening your note of the 9th, relative to information brought by your scouts. During the night, Lieutenant [Thomas L.] Norwood, Thirty-seventh North Carolina Regiment, who was wounded at Gettysburg and made his escape, arrived. he reports he passed at Waynesborough what he supposed a division of reports he passed at Waynesborough what he supposed a division of the enemy, though it was called a heavy column. He also stated he heard that another column was passing down toward Boonsborough, and a third to Fredericktown. Notify [B. H.] Robertson to be on the lookout, and offer stiff resistance. Lieutenant N. says that General Couch, with Pennsylvania militia, was at Chambersburg. We must prepare for a vigorous battle, and trust in the mercy of God and the valor of our troops. Get your men in hand, and have everything ready.

Very truly,

R. E. LEE,

General.

SALT SUPLHUR SPRINGS, July 10, 1863.

(Received, Richmond, July 11.)

Honorable JAMES A. SEDDON.

Secretary of War:

When I suggested that I could send from 2, 500 to 3, 000 infantry from this department, if they were needed for immediate service, I did not suppose that, if called for, they would be kept out of this section of the department longer than absolutely necessary to meet a pressing emergency, such as the design on Richmond, or that they would be immediately sent so far from railroad communication as to Winchester.

The falling back of General Bragg and the capitulation of Vicksburg may enable the enemy to send back to the Kanawha Valley the troops sent from there during the last winter. Under the circumstances, I recommend and ask that one of the regiments ordered to Winchester be allowed to remain at Lewisburg. May I ask an early reply by telegraph?

SAM. JONES,

Major-General.

SALT SUPLHUR SPRINGS,

July 10, 1863.

Colonel McCAUSLAND,

Commanding Fourth Brigade:

COLONEL: The general commanding directs me to say that your dispatch of the 8th instant has been received. In reply, he directs me to say that for the present the re-enforcements asked for cannot be sen. He has ordered Dunn`s battalion to Lewisburg, and, as soon as it arrives, he will send you the remainder of the Eighth Virginia Cavalry.

He hoped to meet you here to-day. You must, of course, decide if you can be spared from your command. The general has received orders which prevent him from going to Piney. If you cannot leave,