JULY 22, 1864.

Major General SAMUEL JONES,

Commanding, Charleston, S. C.:

GENERAL: I am in receipt of your telegram of yesterday stating that you had given the necessary orders for removing the iron from the Florida Railroad; that you would endeavor to satisfy the Governor of Florida, &c.

It is considered a matter of great importance to secure an early completion of the connection between the Georgia and Florida roads. Indeed the Government agrees with me fully that it is a military necessity. It is believed that a full and candid letter to His Excellency the Governor, setting forth the imperative wants of the Government, will remove all danger of a collision between the forces under your command and the civil authorities, and at the same time avoid all delay in the prosecution of the work.

I have conferred with the Secretary of War on the subject, and he relies fully upon [you] to accomplish the desired work. He wishes that steps be taken at once in the courts of Florida to secure a dissolution of the injunction; to this end has directed the commissioners for the distribution and collection of iron to employ competent counsel to go to Florida to attend to the case. The lawyer employed will be requested to go by Charleston and confer with you. Please furnish him all the facts of the case, especially as to the basis on which the military necessity exists, as it will be necessary for him to go into the court fully prepared to meet all points. I am informed that the road will be completed without difficulty in September, if the necessary amount of iron be obtained. We cannot get it from any other road. The contracts employed on the road are known to me to be energetic men, and sure to do their works if supported by the Government.

Major-General Anderson being personally known in Florida, can, it is thought, do much to forward the work, and at the same time avoid conflict of authority.

I am, general, respectfully, &c.,

J. F. GILMER,

Major-General, &c.

GENERAL ORDERS,
HDQRS. DEPT. OF S. C., GA., AND FLA., Numbers 68.
Charleston, S. C., July 23, 1864.

Officers of the personal and general staff of the major-general commanding, including the chief of artillery, chief engineer, chief quartermaster, chief ordnance officer, medical director, and inspector of the field and general hospitals of the department, and the chief commissary and chief engineer of the State of South Carolina, will communicate with and receive instructions from these headquarters direct. All other officers of the various staff departments, as well as of the line, will be under the control and supervision of the commanders of the several districts in which they are stationed, especially in all matters of military discipline and police.

This order will not be so construed as to interfere with the general orders from the War Department on similar subjects.

By command of Major General Samuel Jones:

CHAS. S. STRINGFELLOW,

Assistant Adjutant-General.