CULPEPER COURT-HOUSE, VA., April 17, 1864.

Major-General MEADE,

Commanding Army of the Potomac:

Should a siege of Richmond become necessary, siege guns, ammunition, and equipments can be got from the arsenal at Washington and Fort Monroe very rapidly. Every preparation is made for all classes of transportation by water, so that these things can be directed to any point by water we may require them. Once at the nearest landing, with the meanst of transportation with an army, they can be readily moved to any point inland they may be wanted. The means of manning heavy artillery is always at hand with an army, as well as the means of constructing batteries. I will take advantage of General Hunt's suggestion as to the proper officer to get the siege train ready, and to a great extend his suggestions as to the number, caliber, &c., of guns necessary for ti.

U. S. GRANT,

Lieutenant-General.

HEADQUARTERS ARMY OF THE POTOMAC,
April 17, 1864.

Lieutenant-General GRANT,

Commanding, &c.:

GENERAL: I desire to report that, in conformity with my construction of your confidential letter of the 9th instant, the following instructions have been given by me:

The Commissary Department, through its chief at these headquarters, has been notified that, at the close of the present month or early in the next, there will be required 1,000,000 of rations on shipboard in suitable vessels for being taken up the Pamunkey or James River, as may be required, and, in advance of more specific instructions, Fortress Monroe has been designated as a proper point of assemblage. The Quartermaster's Department has been notified that, at the same time and place, forage and other supplies furnished by that department will be required. The Ordnance Department has been notified to have in similar readiness 100 rounds of artillery ammunition per gun and 100 rounds of small-arm per man. The Engineer Department has been instructed to have the siege trains [now at Washington] in readiness for shipment, and such engineering tools and other supplies [in addition to those carried with the army] as would be required in the event of laying siege to Richmond. A special communication has been made to you in reference to the artillery for a siege train, in case one should be required before Richmond. The Medical Department has been notified that in addition to the supplies now in depot at Alexandria, and which will be kept there as long as the Orange and Alexandria Railroad can be used, medical supplies for some 12,000 wounded should be held in readiness on shipboard, to be thrown up the Pamunkey or James, as circumstances may require. It is proper to observe, in connection with this duplication of reserve medical supplies, that in case a battle is fought within communicating distance of the Orange and Alexandria Railroad the supplies at Alexandria can be thrown forward; but if a rapid movement is made across the country, and a battle fought in the vicinity of Richmond, these supplies would have to be drawn from some other point; and the time which it would take