be superior to that of the enemy. If you can only get his garrison at one position you will be able to concentrate to great advantage upon the next.

I remain, very respectfully, your most obedient servant,

JAMES LONGSTREET,

Lieutenant-General.

HEADQUARTERS,
Petersburg, Va., April 8, 1863.

Major General D. H. HILL, Commanding, &c.:

GENERAL: I wrote you yesterday to endeavor to get a point below New Berne to prevent General Foster's return there with his re-enforcements. If you cannot make such arrangements at once have it in your mind, and should Foster land and give you battle be prepared to cut him off from New Berne by land and water, if you are so fortunate as to beat him back. Please send couriers and letters to me at Franklin until otherwise advised. The War Department has arranged it so that your command is a department and includes all the troops in the State. The Secretary has ordered General Evans' brigade to be ready to go to Charleston. I hope that it will not be necessary to send him there.

I remain, very respectfully, your obedient servant,

JAMES LONGSTREET,

Lieutenant-General, Commanding.

HEADQUARTERS,
Petersburg, Va., April 8, 1863.

Brigadier General W. H. C. WHITING,

Wilmington, N. C.:

I wrote the Secretary of War yesterday. He knows your situation. I hope that there may be no occasion for Evans to move.

JAMES LONGSTREET,

Lieutenant-General, Commanding.

HEADQUARTERS,
Petersburg, Va., April 8, 1863.

Brigadier General W. H. C. WHITING,

Commanding, &c., Wilmington, N. C.:

GENERAL: Colonel Long has just made his inspection report. I am much gratified at the favorable account that he gives of your condition and your progress in your difficult labors. I have ordered the chief of subsistence to have your supplied with provisions for at least a month at your forts. It seems to me that you have hardly enough ammunition in your forts. I have written the Secretary of War, giving him, I think, very good reasons why your garrison should not be reduced below its present force, yet I think that that force can be spared for a few days better than any other. General Hill is now at Washington. He has invested the place and has thrown up a fort below which cuts out re-enforcements. General Foster is below with re-enforcements, but cannot get in unless he can reduce the fort. General Hill thinks that he will be compelled to land and give battle or give up the garrison. If he lands we hope to destroy him. General Hill is ordered to try and thrown a force below New Berne and erect a battery on the river, which will prevent Foster from returning to New Berne. I have examined the condi-