comrades of the regiment. He was here mortally wounded. I respectfully request that a medal be presented in his name, so that his bereaved family may possess a memento of the gallantry of a brave soldier who has given his life to his country.

Very respectfully, your obedient servant,

JAMES B. WILSON,

Captain, Commanding 118th Pennsylvania Volunteers.

[42.]

HEADQUARTERS DISTRICT OF NORTH CAROLINA,
New Berne, N. C., December 28, 1864.

Major General B. F. BUTLER,

Commanding Dept. of Virginia and North Carolina, in the Field:

GENERAL: I have just received a dispatch from Colonel Frankle, from Plymouth, inclosing a letter from Commander Macomb, in which the latter states that it is perfectly impossible to take the gun-boats above Poplar Point without a land force sufficiently large to drive away the enemy's sharpshooters along the shore, and he estimates that there are 1,500 to 2,000 of them. He also states that the double-enders cannot ascnd the river as far as Poplar Point in less than a week; that the river has to be dragged for torpedoes every time they move, &c. Colonel Frnkle writes that the enemy have assembled some 8,000 men to oppose him, and there are various rumors of Hill's corps having come to North Carolina; that there are many appearances of quite a large body of troops having come from Virginia to occupy the line of the Roanoke, &c. Colonel Frankle does not give credit to all these rumors, but he insists that the enemy have a much larger force than we can send there. General Harland is now on the ground at Plymouth to decide what is best to be done. I consider myself as very unfortunate in not being able to go up to Plymouth myself, but General Harland is cool, and I am willing to trust to his judgment. Some cavalry horses have arrived lately from Washington, and I hear that more are coming. I hope very soon to have at least 600 effective cavalry, and with them I hope to find and opening somewhere on the Wilmington and Weldon Railroad where we can do some fine service.

I am, general, very respectfully, your obedient servant,

I. N. PALMER,

Brigadier-General.

[42.]

HDQRS. EIGHTH Maryland VOLUNTEER INFANTRY,
December 29, 1864.

Brigadier General S. WILLIAMS,

Assistant Adjutant-General, Army of the Potomac:

GENERAL: In obedience to Special Orders, Numbers 346, headquarters Army of the potomac, December 22, 1864, extract 7, I have the honor to present the name of Corpl. Isaac B. Conrad, Company D, Eighth Maryland Volunteers, as an enlisted man who is worthy of receiving a medal of honor for conspicuous gallantry. Besides continued meritorious coduct during the campaign, I beg leave to state that in the charge on Laurel Hill May 8, 1864, when the regimental colors were shot twice to the ground by wounding or killing the color-bearer and every one of the color guard and Captain James Bride was killed with the colors in his hand, this young man, then a private not yet twenty years old, jumped