HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF VIRGINIA,
Fort Monroe, April 10, 1863.

Major-General PECK, Suffolk:

General Halleck directs me to assist Foster if possible; so we will send Terry's brigade of 3,000, and I will, when the enemy advances on you, send Hawkins' Zouaves and other aid nearly equivalent. I shall order Terry to bring back his brigade the moment Foster is released or disposed of.

E. D. KEYES,

Major-General.

HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF VIRGINIA,
Fort Monroe, April 10, 1863.

Major-General PECK:

Vessels having arrived, Terry's brigade will go by sea. I have directed the quartermaster to keep you advised of the arrival of the transports. I suppose his brigade does not exceed 3,000 men. No greater number can possibly be spared.

I will direct the quartermaster to send coal for your gunboats.

E. D. KEYES,

Major-General.

FORT MONROE, VA., April 10, 1863.

Major-General PECK, Suffolk:

We have been informed that the enemy have sent bridge material for five bridges from Petersburg, to be used in crossing the Blackwater in five places. This information is quite reliable. General Keyes is now at Old Point.

D. T. VAN BUREN,

Assistant Adjutant-General.

HEADQUARTERS STEAMER ESCORT, April 10, 1863.

Lieutenant Colonel W. H. LUDLOW:

COLONEL: By direction of General Palmer I beg leave to say, in answer to your dispatch of the 9th, that an expedition sent to raise the siege of Washington, and consisting of about 8,000 men, were repulsed at Blount's Creek, near the battery on Hill's Point.

The enemy are in force, about 22,000, and strongly posted. An effort will be made (troops on this boat) to run a regiment past the batteries to General Foster, so that he can make a more protracted defense of that place.

The only available transportation that can be sent to Gatesville is sufficient for 3,000 men; that amount of transportation will be at Gatesville the morning of the 13th, and will remain there forty-eighth hours, hoping for troops.

Very respectfully, your obedient servant,
SOUTHARD HOFFMAN,

Lieutenant-Colonel and Assistant Adjutant-General.

NOTE.-Will Colonel Ludlow please forward this to the commanding general at Fort Monroe?

Very respectfully,

I. N. PALMER,

Brigadier-General, Commanding Department North Carolina.

38 R R-VOL XVIII