machinists to Virginia to take charge of so much of said machinery as it may be desirable and expedient to transfer to Fayetteville for the above- named purpose. Messrs. Allen and Haymond did not concur in the foregoing advice, preferring to leave it to the convention, when it reassembles, to decide what disposition is to be made of the machinery not needed for the service of the State.

* * * * *

JOHN J. ALLEN.

FRANCIS H. SMITH.

M. F. MAURY.

RO. L. MONTAGUE

T. S. HAYMOND.

[2.]

SPECIAL ORDERS,
HEADQUARTERS VIRGINIA FORCES, Numbers 97.
Richmond, Va., May 22, 1861.

I. Colonel William B. Blair, of the Provisional Army of VIRGINIA, is announced to the troops serving in the State as commissary- general of subsistence of the Virginia forces. Allen officers doing duty in that department within the limits of the State are directed to report to him, by letter, without delay, their stations and the nature of the orders under which they are acting.

II. The following act of the Congress of the Confederate States, in relation to the clothing of volunteers, having been adopted as far as applicable by the Governor and council of the State as the rule for the government of the Virginia forces, is published for the information of all concerned, viz:

SEC. 3. And be it further enacted, That said volunteers shall furnish their own clothes and, if mounted men, their own horses and horse equipments, and when mustered into service shall be armed by the States from which they come or by the Confederate States of America.

SEC. 4. And be it further enacted, That said volunteers shall, when called into actual service and while remaining therein, be subject to the Rules and Articles of War, and instead of clothing every non- commissioned officer an private in any company shall be entitled, when called into actual service, to money in a sum equal to the cost of clothing of a non- commissioned officer or private in the Regular Army of the Confederate States of America.

By command of Major- General Lee:

R. S. GARNETT,
Adjutant- General.

[.]

HEADQUARTERS,
West point, May 22, 1861.

Major General R. E. LEE:

GENERAL: The necessity of the Richmond and York River railroad to your military operations is absolute; and in this connection, if not improper, I respectfully call your attention to the bridges across the Pamunkey River and Cohoke Mill Pond. Should they be destroyed the railroad would be comparatively useless to you in a military point of view. You may know that the Pamunkey tribe of Indians live immediately on this side of the Pamunkey bridge, and some of them have said to an old merchant in their immediate neighborhood that the bridge was in danger. This fat has just been communicated to me. One of the Indians communicating the fact is a pilot, and Starke, the merchant, says he seems to feel much uneasiness and apprehension. This may be only fear upon their part Had the bridge not better be guarded! I have called the attention of the railroad agent to the