They are much interested and request that I address you on the subject. Will you be kind enough to say to me what foundation, if any, there is for these rumors, so that I may know to what extent I may go in quieting the fears of the people.

Very respectfully,

A. I. BOREMAN,

Governor.

P. S. - I omitted to have the foregoing put in the mail at the proper time.

A. I. B.

CUMBERLAND, February 26, 1864.

Brigadier-General SULLIVAN,

Harper's Ferry:

Nothing direct yet from Franklin. I have no doubt the report was exaggerated. Captain Harper, of the Swamp Dragoons, had a fight with 200 of Imboden's men at the mouth of Seneca; killed 6 and drove the balance back. I have no news from Washington.

B. F. KELLEY,

Brigadier-General

CUMBERLAND, February 26, 1864.

Brigadier-General AVERELL:

The cavalry scout that went toward Franklin not yet returned. Captain Harper, commanding the Swamp Dragoons, had a fight with 200 of Imboden's men at mouth of Seneca, killing 6 of the enemy.

B. F. KELLEY,

Brigadier-General.

BALTIMORE, MD., February 26, 1864.

Major General H. W. HALLECK:

General-in-Chief U. S. Army, Washington, D. C.:

GENERAL: In a conversation with Grant at Nashville, Tenn., on the 12th instant, reference was made to a project of an operation from the Eastern sea-board, to aid, by co-operation, the contemplated movements in Alabama and Georgia. He desired, as I understood him, to have a column of 60,000 men move on Raleigh, by the way of Weldon, and thence to co-operate with the Armies of the Ohio and of the Cumberland. I have though of the project since, as I had in fact, often before, while in command in North Carolina and Virginia, and beg leave, respectfully, to present the following plan, which will, I think, meet General Grant's wishes, and also attain some other important objects:

I would respectfully propose that the force be collected in the vicinity of Hampton Roads, in such a way as to excite the least suspicion of its real object; that the artillery and infantry be moved by transports to Fort Powhatan, on the James River, landed at that point and the one opposite, on the north bank of the river, and a portion of the force put to work to intrench those points, so as to be