[Indorsement.]

HEADQUARTERS THIRD CORPS,
October 2, 1864.

Respectfully returned.

The exigency is hoped to be only temporary. The suggestion of General Johnson is perfectly satisfactory, and I will so arrange it to-morrow if the enemy give me time.

A. P. HILL,

Lieutenant-General.

WAR DEPARTMENT, C. S. A.,

Richmond, October 3, 1864.

General R. E. Lee,

Chaffin's Bluff:

The following just received from telegraphic operator at Gordonsville:

We are expecting the enemy in here every minute. The are advancing on this place; two regiments of cavalry and artillery are only twelve miles off.

J. A. SEDDON,

Secretary of War.

HEADQUARTERS ARTILLERY DEFENSES,
Richmond, October 3, 1864.

Major T. O. CHESTNEY,

Assistant Adjutant-General, Department of Richmond:

MAJOR: Within the last few days the lieutenant-general commanding department has referred to me several telegraphic dispatches and notes from headquarters Army of Northern Virginia, and I have myself received some from the same source, all calling attention to certain neglects or deficiencies, either reported by others or observed personally by the general commanding, in the defenses at Chaffin's Bluff, and on the line generally. The spirit and tone of these communications plainly imply censure upon the fidelity with which I have discharged my duties as commander of the Artillery Defenses. I feel a profound and material at my disposal could not have been employed with more diligence or with greater advantage in strengthening the defenses of the city. With the result of these labors the lieutenant-general commanding is for the most part familiar from personal inspection. A resume of what has been accomplished under adverse circumstances toward the improvement and extension of the fortifications, the increased armament, &c., will, I hope, sufficiently show that whatever may be my defects of skill, I am not liable to the reproach of indolence or neglect. The general condition of the lines when I assumed command was not good. The batteries were overgrown with weeds, the parapets in many places were sunk, many of the barbettes were without platforms, most of the guns were incomplete. The supply of ammunition was deficient and faulty. Many of the carriages were in unserviceable condition, in some cases altogether unsuited to the caliber they mounted. There was great deficiency in the number of guns, especially of heavy caliber. In all these particulars the evidences of improvement are, I think, apparent. The ammunition is regularly