I am most happy to reply to Your Excellency's communication, as it is only in that way I can learn the wants of the people in remote and sparsely settled districts which troops have rarely traversed.

With great respect, Your Excellency's obedient servant,

G. WRIGHT,

Brigadier-General, U. S. Army, Commanding.

FORT CHURCHILL, NEV. TER., April 11, 1864.

Colonel R. C. DRUM,

Assistant Adjtuant-General, San Francisco, Cal.:

COLONEL: I have the honor to incloe herewith communication from Mr. Baldwin, son of the late Judge Baldwin, of California, and Captain C. A. Sumner, relative to the existence of a secession organization in Virginia. We have nearly 500 armed men at this pass; one-half of this force is sufficients in the Territory. I am aware that a large number of the most violent Southern sympathizers have immigrated to this Territory from California who have but little means and are desperate; but at the same time, some of the largest property holders in the Territory are from the South, and their interests require them to do all they can to prevent an outbreak and to assist in sustaining the Federal authority. I would respectfully recommend that a provost guard to consist of 1 commissioned, 2 non-commissioned officers, and 25 privates be ordered to Virginia city to assist the provost-marshal in suppressing any disturbances that may take place; besides, the headquarters of the guard would serve as a temporary rendezvous for recruits for the infantry regiment. The only additional expense to the Government in keeping a provost guard in Virginia would be the rent of quarters, which I think would be reasonable.

Very respectfully, your obedient servant,

CHAS. McDERMIT,

Major, Second Cavalry California Volunteers, Commanding Post.

[Inclosure Numbers 1.] VIRGINIA CITY, NEV. TER., April 11, 1864.

Lieutenant Colonel R. C. DRUM,

Assistant Adjutant-General, Headquarters, San Francisco, Cal.:

SIR: I have the honor to communicate a statement of the facts of the existence in this city of a secession club, regular and frequent in its meetings, and evidently designing some movements of a revolutionary or disorganizing character. I am obliged to wait a few days the result of certain detective operations now being carried on before stating so much of the detail of the traitorous plottings as are now (and probably will be in addition) discovered and reasonably certified to. Meanwhile and now I deem it advisable to say this much to you and to respectfully urge the establishment of a fully armed and equipped provost guard at this place. The suggestion and recommendation belong orginally to Major McDermit, through whom I have the honor to transmit this. I have been requested by Major McDermit to write to you, as of the first instance, because I have had direct personal communication with parties professing to know of the meetings and meditations of the gang of secessionists who are infesting, perhaps threatening, this city. To the proposition for a provost guard, Major