HEADQUARTERS ARMY OF NORTHERN VIRGINIA,
October 29, 1864.

His Excellency Z. B. VANCE,

Governor of North Carolina, Raleigh:

GOVERNOR: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 25th instant, and while I regret the facts you state, I thank you for your efforts on our behalf. I am gratified to hear what you say of the home guards and reserves and trust that you will bring out as many as possible. With reference to the Sixty-seventh and Sixty-eighth Regiments, I understand that one is in Western North Carolina. I hope that the troops under Colonel Palmer are sufficient for the necessities of that region, especially as he is now co-operating with General Breckinridge so as to prevent the advance of the enemy from East Tennessee. I would therefore advice that whichever one of the regiments above referred to is in West North Carolina be sent to Wilmington to aid in the defense of that place.

Very respectfully, your obedient servant,

R. E. LEE,

General.

WILMINGTON, October 29, 1864.

General S. COOPER,

Adjutant and Inspector General:

Your dispatch of yesterday can be only partially deciphered, but the written instructions ought to reach me in full time for action. Numbers change has taken place since my first dispatch except a reduction of the number of the enemy's blockading vessels.

BRAXTON BRAGG.

CHARLESTON, October 29, 1864.

General S. COOPER,

Adjutant and Inspector General:

Your dispatch of the 28th in cipher is received. I will assist and co-operate with General Bragg to the full extent of my ability. It is proper to say, however, that owing to the small force and the number of points to be defended much cannot be expected.

W. J. HARDEE,

Lieutenant-General.

STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA, EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT,

Raleigh, October 29, 1864.

General J. C. BRECKINRIDGE,

Commanding Department of Southwest Virginia:

GENERAL: I beg leave to call your attention to the very distressing state of affairs in the mountains of Western North Carolina, and to ask your assistance in the effort to remedy it. I learn that in certain localities, particularly in Cherokee County and the region bordering, the warfare between scattering bodies of irregular troops is conducted on both sides without any regard whatever to the rules of civilized war or the dictates of humanity. The murder of prisoners and nun-combatants in cold blood has, I learn, become quite common, and,