[Indorsement.]

HEADQUARTERS FOURTH ARMY CORPS,
Knoxville, December 14, 1863.

Respectfully referred to department headquarters for the consideration of the commanding general.

I am aware that everything possible is being to afford shelter, clothing, and subsistence for the troops. The statements herein made are substantially correct and afford conclusive proof of the impossibility of further offensive operations until clothing, shelter and subsistence, forage and transportation, are provided for the use of the troops and animals. We are now fighting the elements and contending with impossibilities which must decimate our already thinned ranks and defeat us without meeting the foe. Let us get ready by bringing up clothing, subsistence, and other absolute necessaries, and if the enemy chooses to close in upon us so much the better; we can then strike from our base of supplies and operations, while he is remote from his supports, base, and supplies.

G. GRANGER,

Major-General, Commanding.

[Inclosure.]

HDQRS. THIRD DIVISION, FOURTH ARMY CORPS,
Knoxville, Tennessee, December 14, 1863.

Captain E. T. WELLS,

Acting Assistant Adjutant-General:

SIR: Having just returned from a personal inspection of the men in this command I have the honor to report that I find them exceedingly destitute of clothing. The entire outfit of many soldiers consists of a blouse, worn as a shirt, a pair of pants, well worn, a pair of shoes, and in some instances not even those, an oil or woolen blanket, and a hat or cap. As one of the results of this exposure, I find the men attacked with rheumatism, with diarrhea, and with fever of a typhoid character.

I deem it, therefore, my duty to bring to your notice the fact that a continuation of this exposure will, without doubt, seriously impair the efficiency of this command.

Very respectfully, yours,

W. W. BLAIR,

Medical Director, Third Division, Fourth Corps.

GENERAL ORDERS,
HDQRS. DEPARTMENT OF THE OHIO,

Numbers 42.
Knoxville, December 14, 1863.

The following-named officers are announced as upon the staff of the major-general commanding the department, and will be obeyed and respected accordingly:

Brigadier General Edward E. Potter, chief of staff.

Brigadier General Samuel D. Sturgis, chief of cavalry.

Brigadier General Davis Tillson, chief of artillery.

-------

, assistant adjutant-general.

Captain William P. Anderson, assistant adjutant-general.

Colonel Henry Van Rensselaer. U. S. Army, inspector-general.