General Crook, on the Kanawha, twenty-two pieces; with General Averell two batteries, twelve pieces, one of which, a battery of horse artillery, and stationed at Martinsburg; the other a light battery, stationed at Beverly.

Third. The forces mentioned are at present divided into three infantry divisions and one cavalry division.

The First Division, under General Sullivan, occupies Harper's Ferry, Martinsburg, Fredericktown, and the line of railroad from Monocacy to Martinsburg and Sleepy Creek.

The cavalry division of General Averell (formerly Fourth Division) is stationed near Martinsburg, with a line of outposts from the Shenandoah to Back Creek, sending scouts and patrols for 30 miles to the west, southwest, and south. Two regiments of infantry attached to this division are stationed at Beverly, under command of Colonel Moor.

The Second Division, Colonel Mulligan commanding, is scattered for the greater part on the railroad from Sleepy Creek, near Hancock, to Parkersburg, with advanced posts at Philippi, Buckhannon, Bulltown, Glenville, and Wirt Court-House.

The Third Division, under Brigadier-General Crook, is distributed in the Kanawha Valley, at Charleston, Fayetteville, Gauley Bridge and Barboursville.

It is proper to remark that by far the greater part of these troops are in positions which they cannot evacuate without great danger to the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. Harper's Ferry absorbs about 5,000 men, of which one brigade has now been sent away, leaving six regiments of infantry in all at Harper's Ferry and Martinsburg, and on the Baltimore railroad line from Monocacy to Sleepy Creek. Besides this, the Sixth Virginia Regiment (fourteen companies) was organized, as I am informed, under the proviso to guard and protect the railroad, and as the railroad itself is absolutely necessary to us as a line of communication and supplies, it cannot be left totally unprotected during a concentration of our forces, because it would be left in the hands of a population which is for a great part disloyal, and would take opportunity to destroy it as soon as we withdraw our forces to any point of concentration.

The troops in the Kanawha Valley form a special corps of defense and of observation, and cannot easily be united with the rest of our troops to resist an attack through the Shenandoah Valley, or through the region between the Shenandoah and the Alleghany Mountains.

Fourth. Intrenchments. --There are many block-houses built and under construction, for the purpose of giving shelter and protection to the small detachments who guard the bridges and trestle-works on the railroad. There are also several points on the railroad where unmounted pieces have been brought into position, but this arrangement could not prevent the enemy from destroying the road as soon as he can reach it with a few hundred cavalrymen; and with the exception of Harper's Ferry, the fortifications of which point are not complete and finished, there is not one point on the whole line of railroad to Parkersburg, a distance of over 300 miles, which is protected by proper field-works and properly armed, so that it could be regarded as a secure depot and base point from which we could operate into the interior without exposing it to the raids of the enemy.

Cumberland, with its 8,000 inhabitants--the most important city between Baltimore and Wheeling--is totally unprotected.

New Creek, with its immense military store-houses, is very poorly