HEADQUARTERS EIGHTEENTH ARMY CORPS,
New Berne, N. C., March 2, 1863.

Honorable E. M. STANTON,

Secretary of War, Washington:

SIR: Inclosed you will find a copy of Special Orders, Numbers 97,* issued from the headquarters of the Department of the South, commanding the staff of General Foster to "quit" that department.

Upon the receipt of this order the chief of staff addressed a note to Major-General Hunter, asking to be informed what two members of General Foster's staff were alluded to and what statements and remarks had been made to warrant the charges conveyed in the above special order. To this note joy reply whatever has been made. Denying as we do most emphatically then truth of the accusations made against us in the same order, and feeling aggrieved at the uncourteous treatment we have received at the hands of the major-general commanding the Department of the South, we respectfully suggest that you will order a court of inquiry in the case or take such other action as you may deem proper.

We are, sir, very respectfully, your obedient servants,

EDWARD E. POTTER,

Brigadier-General, Chief of Staff.

FRANSIS DARR,

Lieutenant Colonel and Commissary of Subsistence.

JAMES H. STRONG,

Captain and Aide-de-Camp.

GEO. E. GOURAND,

Captain and Aide-de-Camp.

LOUIS FITZGERALD,

Captain and Aide-de-Camp.

FRANCIS U. FARQUHAR,

Second Lieutenant, U. S. Army.

F. G. SNELLING,

U. S. Volunteers, Medical Director.

JAS. C. SLAGHT,

Captain and Assistant Quartermaster.

HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF THE SOUTH,
Hilton Head, Port Royal, S. C., March 3, 1863.

Major General H. W. HALLECK,

General-in-Chief U. S. Army, Washington, D. C.:

GENERAL: You will be happy to hear of the destructions of the Nashville in the Ogeechee River by the guns of the iron-clad Montauk; and as I write we hear the bombardment of Fort McAllister progressing fiercely, Admiral DuPont having been desirous of testing his untried iron-clads against its ramparts.

Everything looks well for us and the troops appear in the highest spirits, the regiment under orders to embark being the picked men of the department. The approaches to Beaufort on Port Royal Island have been strongly fortified, as indications lands me to believe that the enemy will attempt a diversion against that post while the attack on Charleston is in progress.

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* See p. 409.

27 R R-VOL XIV

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