inclose a copy,* and under which I think we may accomplish the object I had in view in my communication of the 4th instant to the Secretary of War, though I should have preferred the arrangement I suggested.

I am, very respectfully, your obedient servant,

JOHN A. DIX,

Major-General.

WAR DEPARTMENT,

Washington City, September 19, 1862.

Major General JOHN A. DIX,

Commanding at Fort Monroe, Va.:

GENERAL: The Secretary of War directs me to acknowledge the receipt of your communication of the 12th instant, in which you state that the contraband negroes which have been permitted to collect at Fort Monroe and in its vicinity have been and now are a very great source of embarrassment to the troops in the garrison and neighboring camps, and that in the event that the fort should be invested or approached by the enemy's forces you should be invested or approached by the enemy's forces you should be obliged to ship hem all North. In view of these circumstances you request permission and authority to communicate and make arrangements with the Governors of Massachusetts and other Northern States with a view to a transfer to those States of all colored men, women, and children now under the superintendence of Mr. C. B. Wilder at old Point Comfort and its vicinity, amounting to about 2,000.

In reply the Secretary instructs me to say that the permission to enter into a correspondence and the authority to make arrangements with the executives of the several Northern States for the purpose indicated is granted and conferred upon you agreeably to your request.

Very respectfully, your obedient servant,

P. H. WATSON,

Assistant Secretary of War.

WAR DEPARTMENT,

Washington, September 19, 1862.

Major-General DIX, Fort Monroe, Va.:

Send up all of Peck's division, which up can replace with the new troops. His division will be filled up here.

H. W. HALLECK,

General-in-Chief.

FORT MONROE, VA., September 20, 1862.

Major General H. W. HALLECK,

General-in-Chief:

I was all day at Suffolk yesterday, expecting an advance from the Blackwater, where the rebels had sent down a considerable force from Petersburg. I have two of Peck's brigades there and three of the new regiments-perfectly raw. One never had had arms in their hands till they reached there yesterday. At Yorktown and Gloucester I have only Emory's brigade; here only one regiment; at Camp Hamilton one regiment, and at Newport News only 500 men. It would be very unsafe to withdraw any of Peck's division at this moment. I have at Suf-

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*Not found.

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