PART II.-VOL. XLII.

CORRESPONDENCE, ORDERS, AND RETURNS, RELATING TO OPERATIONS IN SOUTHEASTERN VIRGINIA AND NORTH CAROLINA, FROM AUGUST 1, 1864, TO SEPTEMBER 30, 1864.*

UNION CORRESPONDENCE, ETC.

[AUGUST 1, 1864.-For Grant to Halleck, in regard to sending Sheridan to command troops in the Shenandoah Valley, &c., see Vol. XXXVII, Part II, p. 558.]

[AUGUST 1, 1864.-For Grant to Meade (9.30 a. m.), relating to losses in the attack of July 30, and suggesting an investigation of the failure, &c., see Vol. XL, Part I, p. 134.]

HEADQUARTERS ARMY OF THE POTOMAC, August 1, 1864-10 a. m.

Lieutenant-General GRANT:

In reply to my letter+ to General Lee, I received this morning about 6 o'clock a letter+ from General Beauregard, consenting to a truce from 5 to 9, for the purpose of burying the dead and removing the wounded. The firing has been resumed, but no report yet received from General Burnside as to the numbers on the field. General Burnside report his losses as amounting to 2,000 killed and wounded and 2,500 missing. On being called on to explain the occurrence of such a large number of missing the accompanying dispatch was received.++ As this, dated at 9.10 p. m. July 31, was the first report of any kind made to me since leaving Burnside's headquarters with yourself, the justice of attributing this apparently disgraceful flight to the order authorizing the withdrawal can be judged of.

GEO. G. MEADE,
Major-General.

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*For Correspondence, etc. from October 1, 1864, to December 31, 1864, see Part III.

+See Vol. XL, Part III, pp. 691, 821.

++See Vol. XL, Part I, p. 146.

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