MURFREESBOROUGH,

March 30, 1863-1.30 a.m.

Major-General BURNSIDE:

Hearty greeting and welcome . Want to know if you can't take the line of the Cumberland or put a strong force at Tompkinsville. Have best assurance attainable, from constant papers to and to the East Tennessee Valley, that no substantial infantry or large cavalry force passed from our front into Kentucky . What can and will you do to enter East Tennessee?

Yours truly,

W. S. ROSECRANS.

HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF THE OHIO,
Cincinnati, March 30, 1863.

Major-General ROSECRANS,

Murfreesborough, Tenn.:

Many thanks for your very cordial greeting. I am glad to be nearer to you, and will certainly do all in my power to co-operate with you. My troops are arriving, and by to-morrow I will be able to telegraph you more definitely. I shall occupy the line of the Cumberland as soon as possible, and hope to pass into East Tennessee.

A. E. BURNSIDE,

Major-General, Commanding Department of the Ohio.

WASHINGTON, D. C., March 30, 1863.

Major-General BURNSIDE:

General Schenck has received advices that there is a rebel force on the Big Sandly, threatening the Kanawha Valley. You must look to this, and not let the enemy turn the Kanawha from the Kentucky line.

H. W. HALLECK,

General-in-Chief.

UNOFFICIAL.] HEADQUARTERS OF THE ARMY,

Washington, D. C., March 30, 1863.

Major-General BURNSIDE, Cincinnati:

GENERAL: The Paymaster's Department is dependent upon the War and Treasury Departments, but under the immediate direction of the former. I, as General-in-Chief, have but very little to do with it. The Paymaster-General reports directly to the Secretary of War for orders. His general instructions are to pay first those longest unpaid. Any variation from this rule must be by the special orders of the Secretary. Any interference with the officers or duties of the Pay Department, is therefore, looked upon by the War Department as an assumption of authority on the part of any general in the field, and as calculated to disarrange the regular transaction of business. My advice is that you confine yourself in regard to this department to reports on any irregularity or neglect of duty which may come under your observation.

It is reported in the newspapers that you have formed Indiana into a separate military district, placing General Carrington in command. The Secretary of War is of opinion that General Carrington is entirely

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