properly detached the battalion from this connection. When General Longstreet started with his command last fall from the Army of Northern Virginia to operate temporarily with the Army of Tennessee, the Washington Artillery Battalion was one of those which it was expected would accompany him, and it proceeded as far as Petersburg with this view; circumstances, however, prevented it going farther, and it remained during the winter in the neighborhood of Petersburg. Since the opening of this campaign it has served as occasion demanded with different commands near Petersburg and Richmond. Now that the Army of Northern Virginia is here also, the question arises has this battalion ever been authoritatively detached from its proper connection with the artillery First Corps? So far as I know, it has not. I, therefore decide with the light before me that the battalion still belongs to the First Corps, and direct that unless there be adequate authority to the contrary you regularly report to and draw through the proper artillery officers of that corps.

Respectfully, your obedient servant,

W. N. PENDLETON,

Brigadier-General and Chief of Artillery.

HEADQUARTERS ARMY OF NORTHERN VIRGINIA,
July 8, 1864.

Lieutenant General R. S. EWELL,

Commanding Richmond Defenses:

GENERAL: Your letter on the subject of placing batteries on the north side of the James River for the purpose of annoying the enemy's vessels has been received. A good deal may be accomplished in this way, but the batteries should be movable and not stationary, as it will be easy for the gun-boats to attack them with superior armament.

I am, very respectfully, your obedient servant,

R. E. LEE,

General.

HEADQUARTERS JOHNSON'S DIVISION,
July 8, 1864.

Colonel G. W. BRENT,

Assistant Adjutant-General:

COLONEL: I beg leave to call attention of the commanding general to the fact that the commanding officers of mortar batteries on my line are not connected with these headquarters by any channel of communication. This I find to be a serious inconvenience, and a want of concert of action between the gun and mortar batteries at the most critical moment may be attended with the most serious consequences. The mortar batteries are under the command of Brigadier-General Alexander, or his successor in command, while the batteries in my division are, under Colonel Jones, commanded by Major Coit, to whom I look for information and to carry out necessary orders. I would respectfully suggest that the mortar and gun batteries along the line of this division be placed under a common head, with whom I can communicate, so as to keep myself advised of their condition, and so as to secure the proper co-operation in any action that may occur in my front.

Very respectfully, your obedient servant,

B. R. JOHNSON,

Major-General.