terday, boats having been provided for that purpose. I request an order placing General Carter on duty in this district.

A portion of Cluke's force was attacked on the 9th, at Hazle Green, by detachment of the Forty fourth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, which I ordered out from Richmond. Twenty-five rebels and a number of horses and arms were captured without any loss on our side. Lieutenant-Colonel Wilson, commanding at Richmond, reports that the court at London was broken up by rebels on the 9th instant, but Colonel Wolford, at Stanford, with telegraphic communication to the front as far as Mount Vernon, and with authority and orders from me to protect this court, does not corroborate this statement.

I have nothing new except reports corroborating those already forwarded to you of the contemplated invasion of Kentucky by a combined force at least equal to all that I have scattered through my district.

I have not yet thought it proper to take the One hundred and eighteenth Ohio off the Kentucky Central Railroad, but would like very much to have that regiment here. Is it practicable for you to furnish from Covington adequate guards for all the bridges north of Paris, or even north of Cynthiana, to enable me to have the bulk of the One hundred and eighteenth Ohio under my own eye, without having to detach an entire regiment in its place?

I have heard nothing of the Indiana battery yet. I have this moment received a dispatch from Nashville that the two Tennessee regiments left there yesterday by boat. The Michigan regiments are ready to start.

Very respectfully, your obedient servant,

Q. A. GILLMORE.

HEADQUARTERS OF THE ARMY,
Washington, March 13, 1863.

Major-General ROSECRANS, Murfreesborough:

GENERAL: The names of yourself and others were presented to the War Department for major-generals in the Regular Army. The Secretary decided that he would not fill the vacancy till some general could claim it as a reward for a complete and decisive victory. This decision was briefly announced to you* and others whose names had been urged. To this note you, on the 6th, return an indignant answer, characterizing the announcement of the Secretary's decision as an "auctioneering of honors." If this be so, the general order of the President announcing that he would appoint brigadier and major generals only for distinguished services in the field is also an "auctioneering of honors," and should have incited equal indignation. Before receiving your letter, I had not supposed that a Government which offered and bestowed its highest officers for military success wither depreciated patriotism, encouraged baseness, or bartered away honor. When last summer, at your request, I urged the Government to promote you for success in the field, and, again at your request, urged that your commission be dated back to your services in Western Virginia, I thought I was doing right in advocating your claim to honors for services rendered.

Very respectfully, your obedient servant,

H. W. HALLECK,

General-in-Chief.

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*See letter of March 1, p. 95.

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