HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF THE CUMBERLAND, Murfreesborough, March 4, 1863.

Major General A. McD. McCOOK,
Commanding Twentieth Army Corps:

GENERAL: You will remember that when I called your attention to the fact that your corps report of the battle of Stone's River omitted to mention that the corps commanders met me, at my headquarters, on Tuesday night, before the battle, after dark; that the plan of battle was there fully explained, and that you all received, verbally, your orders for the next day's work, you told me it was an accidental omission. It is due to the truth of history, to yourself, and to me that this omission should be supplied. You will, therefore, please report to me, in writing, your recollection of that meeting and of the orders you there received-what you were to do, and what was confided to your discretion.

W. S. ROSECRANS,

Major-General.

HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF THE CUMBERLAND, Murfreesborough, March 10, 1863.

Major General A. McD. McCOOK,
Commanding Twentieth Army Corps:

GENERAL: On the 4th instant I wrote you a note, ordering you to report your recollections of your visit to my headquarters on the night of December 30, and of the instructions you received. On the 8th, chief of staff again called your attention to this order. Neither report nor acknowledgment has yet come to headquarters. I am pained to notice this in a matter where honor should have made you prompt, and your neglect of a well-known rule of official correspondence adds to the gravity of the fault. You will please immediately acknowledge receipt of this and the former-named notes by telegraph, and bring me your written report by 4 o'clock this afternoon, when you will report to me in person.

W. S. ROSECRANS,

Major-General.

HEADQUARTERS TWENTIETH ARMY CORPS, Camp on Shelbyville Pike, near Murfreesborough, Tenn., March 10, 1863.

Brigadier General JAMES A. GARFIELD,
Chief of Staff:

I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of a letter from the major-general commanding the Army of the Cumberland, relating to a conversation I had with him after his perusal of my official report of the battle of Stone's River. General Rosecrans remarked to me that my report was a good one, but that I had failed to mention the visit I paid him on the night of the 30th of December. I then replied that the omission was accidental, and did not then deem it of sufficient import to insert it, which I would have been glad to have done had I then deemed it desirable or necessary. Major-General Rosecrans states, in his official report, that the corps commanders met him at his headquarters at 9 p. m., and in his letter of the 4th states that my report of the battle of Stone's River omitted to mention that the corps commanders had met at his headquarters on Tuesday night before the battle.