PATTERSON'S CREEK, VA.,

February 4, 1862-12 p. m.

General S. WILLIAMS,

Assistant Adjutant-General:

We are moving on Romney.

F. W. LANDER,

Brigadier-General.

[5.]

PATTERSON'S CREEK, VA., February 5, 1862.

General GEORGE B. MCCLELLAN:

My advance guard has frightened the enemy and I fear he will be off before I get the main body up. My men are after him. Roads nearly impassable for infantry and cavalry. I shall act with caution.

F. W. LANDER,

Brigadier-General.

[5.]

WASHINGTON, D. C., February 6, 1862.

General N. P. BANKS,

Frederick, Md.:

Lander is moving on Romney. If you can help him by showing force on the river-bank, do so.

G. M. MCCLELLAN,

Major-General.

[5.]

CAMP ISLAND, VA., February 6, 1862.

Honorable E. M. STANTON,

Secretary of War:

It is necessary to order from Ohio one regiment of troops to this point (Cabell Court-House, Va.) immediately, with one battery. They are coming upon us with artillery.

A. SNDERS PIATT,

Colonel Thirty-fourth Regiment.

[5.]

HEADQUARTERS ARMY OF THE POTOMAC,
Washington, February 6, 1862.

General N. P. BANKS,

Frederick, Md.:

The following is an extract from a dispatch received from General Lander this evening:

The enemy has escaped me and fallen back from Romney, after burning the fine wire bridge over the South Branch. This unnecessary act of vandalism deprives him of future power to threaten Cumberland.

S. WILLIAMS,

Assistant Adjutant-General.

[5.]