respecting the disappearance or dimunition of the force in his front, led the authorities here to believe that Little Washington would be attacked immediately. Two steamers loaded with troops, together with the gun-boat Tacony, were at once dispatched to Little Washington.

At an early hour on Tuesday morning, the 19th instant, dispatches were received from General Wessells and Commander Flusser announcing an attack by a rebel land force in the afternoon of the 17th instant. This was the first information received from General Wessells subsequent to the 16th instant, when the Tacony was sent back, as above stated. The latest information, received through a contraband, the servant, of Captain Stewart, assistant adjutant-general, General Wessells' staff, is to the effect that early on Tuesday morning the iron-clad had complete control of the Roanoke River, was attacking the town in the rear while the land force was engaging our troops in front. From this statement it will be seen that the enemy had complete control of the Roanoke within a few hours after I received General Wessells' last dispatch. On the reception of these dispatches, which were very favorable, steamers were dispatched with such available infantry as General Palmer could spare, together with supplies of ammunition for the army and navy at Plymouth. These steamers were detained in the Albemarle Sound by the gun-boats then lying in Edenton Bay, which had escaped from the iron-clad at Plymouth. In my judgment the non-arrival of the infantry at Plymouth is most fortunate, as they, together with the steamers, would beyond a doubt have fallen into the hands of the enemy.

A steamer with dispatches was promptly sent to General Harland, commanding at Little Washington, notifying him of the state of affairs at Plymouth. He was also requested to send down such surplus troops as he might have to be used at such points as might seem necessary. I also sent dispatches for the Tacony to proceed at once from Little Washington to Plymouth. Before these dispatches arrived Colonel Dutton, chief of my staff, had procured the sailing of the Tacony for Plymouth, going on board himself. Colonel Dutton also suggested to General Harland that he should send the steamer Pilot Boy with the Seventeenth Massachusetts Volunteers to Plymouth, but General Harland did not feel at liberty to do so in view of his situation.

All the information received by both the senior naval officer, Commander Davenport, and myself has been promptly sent to your headquarters by both lines of communication.

General Wessells was supplied with provisions, forage, ammunition, and other requisites for a long siege. His casualties were very small, notwithstanding some five successive assaults upon his lines. His position was intact up to the appearance of the iron-clad, and he could have held the land forces at bay for weeks. A few days since I communicated the information, entirely reliable, that floats were being prepared to buoy the ram over the principal shoals in the Neuse River between this place and Kinston. It has been the intention from the first to bring the two iron-clads from the Roanoke and Neuse together in an attack upon New Berne. Should this movement be delayed it will result solely from the exigencies of the rebel service in other parts of the Confederacy.

I have omitted to say in my last dispatch that Colonel Ripley,