North Carolina. I hope this delusion will be kept up both North and South until we do move. If it should prove possible for you to reach Richmond, so as to invest all on the south side of the river and fortify yourself there, I shall have but little fear of the result.

The trains have now continued so long that it will be impossible to move earlier than the 25th, so I will set that date for making your calculations. All men afloat could then be sent up York River, as you proposed, to conceal our real designs, if you were not then prepared to move.

U. S. GRANT,

Lieutenant-General.

WASHINGTON, D. C., April 16, 1864-11. 30 a. m.

Major-General BUTLER,

Fort Monroe, Va.:

The Thirty-third New York and the Fifth New Jersey Batteries have been ordered to Fort Monroe. General Meigs will send ocean transportation for the part of the Twenty-fifth U. S. Colored Troops at Morehead City.

H. W. HALLECK,

Major-General, Chief of Staff.

WAR DEPARTMENT,

Washington, April 16, 1864-5 p. m.

Captain G. D. WISE,

Assistant Quartermaster, Baltimore:

Proceed to Philadelphia and New York and consult with Colonel Crossman and Major Van Vliet, and dispatch to Washington as quickly as possible all the light-draught steamers that can be obtained, and send to Fort Monroe not less than fifty schooners and forty barges suitable for transporting horses, wagons, and troops. These should be dispatched at the earliest possible moment, and be ordered to report to the quartermasters at Washington and Fort Monroe. We have a large number of steamers within reach of Washington, which will be made available, and all that are now in service between Philadelphia, New York, and Fort Monroe should be assembled in the Potomac as soon as possible. Communicate these instructions confidentially to Colonel Crossman and Major Van Vliet. Take up any suitable vessels in Baltimore; usual terms and conditions of charter to be adhered to. Telegraph daily progress.

M. C. MEIGS,

Quartermaster-General.

HDQRS. TENTH ARMY CORPS, DEPT. OF THE SOUTH,
Hilton Head, S. C., April 16, 1864.

Major General B. F. BUTLER,

Commanding Dept. of Va. and N. C., Fortress Monroe:

GENERAL: In the letter from the General-in-Chief directing me to report to you with certain forces from this department, to be selected by myself, he says: "The troops which you bring with you and those which join you at Fort Monroe will constitute the Tenth Army Corps. "

I have organized the forces going from this command into three