FLAG-SHIP NEW IRONSIDES,

Off Morris Island, S. C., April 17, 1864.

Major General Q. A. GILLMORE, U. S. Army,

Commanding Department of the South, Hilton Head, S. C.:

GENERAL: I am in receipt of a communication from Brigadier General R. Saxton, addressed to you, with indorsement by yourself asking for the detail "of a small gun-boat to the stationed at or near Beaufort, with orders to cruise in these (those) waters." I regret to say that I have few vessels suitable for such duty, in good repair, but will instruct the commanding officer at Port Royal to avail himself of the first that may be completed that can be spared for that service.

I have the honor to be, very respectfully, your obedient servant,

S. C. ROWAN,

Commodore, Commanding South Atlantic Blockading Squadron.

SPECIAL ORDERS,
HDQRS. DEPARTMENT OF THE SOUTH, Numbers 163.
Hilton Head, S. C., April 17, 1864.

I. The following-named regiments of the Tenth Army Corps will proceed by the steamer Northern Light to Fortress Monroe, and the senior officer will report in person to Major General B. F. Butler, commanding Department of Virginia and North Carolina: Seventh New Hampshire Volunteers, Forty-seventh New York Volunteers, and One hundred and fifteenth New York Volunteers.

II. The following-named regiment of the Tenth Army Corps will proceed by the steamer Ranger to Fortress Monroe, and the commanding officer will report in person to Major General B. F. Butler, commanding Department of Virginia and North Carolina: Eighty-ninth New York Volunteers.

III. Brigadier General A. H. Terry, U. S. Volunteers, is hereby relieved from command of the Northern District and will proceed to Fortress Monroe and report to Major General B. F. Butler, commanding the Department of Virginia and North Carolina, for the purpose of organizing the troops belonging to the Tenth Army Corps. He will ascertain the wants of the troops and make such requisitions as may be necessary to supply them.

By command of Major General Q. A. Gillmore:

ED. W. SMITH,
Lieutenant-Colonel and Assistant Adjutant-General.

HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF THE SOUTH,

Hilton Head, S. C., April 17, 1864.

Brigadier General J. P. HATCH,

Commanding District of Florida, Jacksonville, Fla.:

GENERAL: In reply to your letter of the 14th instant, asking authority to assure the people of Florida that they will not be deserted by the Union forces, and that a sufficient force will be retained there to hold all the country we may occupy, I am instructed by the major-general commanding to say that it has never been his intention to evacuate the position now held by our troops. The withdrawal from Palatka was indispensable in order to effect the combinations necessary in moving troops according to instruc-