that the policy and justice of putting into active service those troops which have been long stationed near their homes, without hardship or much exposure, and replacing them by veterans, worn and exhausted, is approved by him. The old regiments, it is believed, will thus be speedily recruited. General Bragg adds that in his opinion enough cavalry will be left for the defense of the department, if properly posted and judiciously used. Including those ordered to that department, there will be at the command of General Beauregard over 4,000 effectives. Before the transfer recently directed no army had as much cavalry in an effective condition as General Beauregard.

I am requested to mention as extraordinary that the President's order for the movement of troops should have been furnished to citizens who had no knowledge of the necessities of the service of the reasons operating, and their remonstrance forwarded and approved by the chief of staff of a military department through a member of Congress. Such a course is thought to be injudicious and calculated to demoralize the troops.

Permit me to express, in conclusion, my conviction that the troops to be substituted, from their superior experience, will prove nearly, if not quite, equal to those removed.

Very respectfully, your obedient servant,

JAMES A. SEDDON,

Secretary of War.

CHARLESTON, S. C., March 25, 1864.

Brigadier General B. H. ROBERTSON,

Green Pond, S. C.:

You must not withdraw your line of pickets until actual orders have been received for your cavalry to march; all must, however, be kept in readiness for marching, in other respects.

H. W. FEILDEN,

Assistant Adjutant-General.

RICHMOND, March 26, 1864.

Honorable JAMES A. SEDDON,

Secretary of War:

SIR: Yours of the 25th has been received, in which you state that the telegram laid before you by me has been submitted to General Bragg, and been returned by him, with the information that the order with reference to the cavalry drawn from General Beauregard's command was given by the President, after mature deliberation, and indicating that the order would not be reconsidered of modified. As General Bragg further expresses it, as his own opinion, that "enough cavalry will be left for the defense of the department if properly posted and judiciously used," I presume it will be vain (especially after the interviews I have had with yourself and General Bragg) for me to make any further appeal on the subject; and, indeed, I had presented the case so fully personally, and it had been so forcibly presented in the telegrams from of the most prominent citizens of Charleston, which I had the honor to laying before