TULLAHOMA, August 3, 1862.

J. B. FRY:

SIR: I have 300 infantry and 60 cavalry under my command at this post; there is a portion of the Fifty-seventh Indiana at Duck River, and General Wagner is at Wartrace with the remainder of his brigade. I have not sufficient force to hold this post if attacked, but will defend it until the last extremity, unless otherwise ordered.

LEW. WILSON,

Captain, Nineteenth U. S. Infantry, Commanding Post.

TULLAHOMA, August 3, 1862.

Colonel J. B. FRY:

I can only get rebel accounts of Nelson's movements; they say after passing Woodbury he turned back. This I cannot believe; though if in McMinnville he should have communicated with me before this time. The rebels also say that Morgan returned to Sparta on Thursday last with 2,500 badly jaded men, and that Savage's and Hill's regiments (infantry), raised in this and the adjoining counties, left Chattanooga on Tuesday last for McMinnville. I only give these stories for what they are worth. You may have other information that will either corroborate or contradict them. I send one battalion of regulars of Buckley's brigade. * * *

[W. S. SMITH.]

The remainder of this dispatch torn off and lost.

WAR DEPARTMENT, Washington, August 4, 1862.

Major-General BUELL, Huntsville, Ala:

There is a pressure here to have a new department organized out of Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois. I have proposed that you create a sub-district, and designate a general to command, with pretty full powers. Would it be politic; and, if so, who is the man for the place? Is General Morgan satisfactory to you as commander at the Gap? His fitness is questioned here.

H. W. HALLECK,

General-in-Chief.

HEADQUARTERS, Huntsville, August 4, 1862-8 p.m.

General HALLECK, Washington, D. C.:

Colonel HALLECK, Washington, D. C.:

Colonel Walker's Thirty-fifth Indiana Regiment is in General Nelson's command in advance of McMinnville. I hope you will not find it necessary to take them away. In fact it would be difficult to recall.*

D. C. BUELL,
Major-General.

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*As received by Halleck dispatch reads, "difficult to replace themJanuary

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