WAR DEPARTMENT,

July 9, 1864-1. 45 p. m.

Major-General SANDFORD,

New York:

Your telegram just received. Please forward your troops without delay to Washington by railroad, reporting to General Halleck each shipment. The light artillery will be useful as infantry in the fortifications.

EDWIN M. STANTON,

Secretary of War.

ALBANY, N. Y., July 9, 1864.

(Received 3 p. m.)

Major-General HALLECK,

Chief of Staff:

Dispatch this moment received from General Sandford, of New York, that 3,500 men will be sent immediately from his division. I have issued an order to fill up the militia force of the State to 75,000 men. I will send the assistant adjutant-general to the city to-day, to expedite matters. I will advise you from time to time of the progress of volunteering.

HORATIO SEYMOUR.

WASHINGTON, July 10, 1864-2. 30 p. m.

Lieutenant-General GRANT:

Your dispatch to General Halleck referring to what I may think in the present emergency is shown me. General Halleck says we have absolutely no force fit to go to the field. He thinks that with the 100-days' men and invalids we have here we can defend Washington, and scarcely Baltimore. Besides these there are about 8,000, not very reliable, under Howe, at Harper's Ferry, with Hunter approaching that point very slowly, with that number I suppose you know better than I. Wallace, with some odds and ends and part of what came up with Ricketts, was so badly beaten yesterday at Monocacy that was is left can attempt no more than to defend Baltimore. What we shall get in from Pennsylvania and New York will scarcely be worth counting, I fear. Now, what I think is that you should provide to retain your hold where you are, certainly, and bring the rest with you personally, and make a vigorous effort to destroy the enemy's force in this vicinity. I think there is really a fair chance to do this if the movement is prompt. This is what I think, upon your suggestion, and is not an order.

A. LINCOLN,

President of the United States.

CITY POINT, VA., July 10, 1864-10. 30 p. m.

(Received 7 a. m. 11th.)

A. LINCOLN,

President of the United States:

I have sent from here a whole corps, commanded by an excellent officer, besides over 3,000 other troops. One division of the Nine-