CHARLESTON, April 21, 1864-8 p. m.

Major General F. SIGEL,

Cumberland:

Your dispatch just received. I now think that the demonstration on Saltville will have to be abandoned for want of sufficient mounted force. I will not have over 2,500 effective cavalry. I will not be able to procure many horses by purchase in so short a time. My plan of advance is the same as the one you have suggested. Is it still the intention for me to advance from here on the 23rd instant? Neither the Eighth or Thirty-sixth Ohio Regiments have arrived here yet. Will the regiments you send here be fully prepared and supplied to take the field at once?

GEORGE CROOK,

Brigadier-General.

NEW YORK, April 21, 1864.

(Received 4 p. m.)

Honorable E. M. STANTON,

Secretary of War:

The Fourteenth New York Heavy Artillery, 1,900 present; the Fourth [U. S.] Infantry, 329; the Eighth [U. S.] Infantry, 321; and the Tenth [U. S.] Infantry, 263; will leave for Washington as soon as the necessary changes in the harbor can be made, all by Saturday or Sunday. General Dix is of the opinion that a regiment of the city militia should be called into the service, to furnish guards and escorts for deserters and stragglers, &c. I think the authority should be given.

ED. R. S. CANBY,

Brigadier-General, &c.

WASHINGTON, D. C., April 21, 1864-4.30 p. m.

Major-General BUTLER,

Fort Monroe:

One thousand horses will be sent to you in preference to all others. After that Army of the Potomac must next be supplied. The colored troops in Maryland have been assigned to General Burnside.

H. W. HALLECK,

Major-General, Chief of Staff.

FORT MONROE, VA., April 21, 1864-6 p. m.

(Received 7.20 p. m.)

Honorable GIDEON WELLES,

Secretary of the Navy:

Official dispatches, principally military, from Roanoke Island and New Berne, state that at 3 a. m. on the 19th instant the rebels attacked Plymouth by land and with an iron-clad ram on the water. The Southfield was sunk and Miami disabled. Lieutenant-Commander Flusser was killed. The ram is below Plymouth and has possession of the river. Firing was heard at New Berne in the direction of Washington, N. C., and it was expected that Washington