able or disposed to labor beyond their own particular sphere. They expect demands on railway agents to be promptly complied with, without considering that similar demands at the same time, in addition to the regular train service and routine duties, may come from quartermasters, commissaries, medical directors, surgeons, ordnance officers, the commanding general, the War Department, and lasrtant of all, paymasters. The military railroads have utterly failed to furnish transportation to eve-fifth of their capacity when managed without a strict conformity to schedule and established rules. Punctuality and discipline are even more important to the operation of a railroad than to the movements of an army, and they are vital in both.

If all cars on their arrival at a depot are immediately loaded or unloaded and returned, and trains are run to schedule, a single- track road, in good order and properly equipped, may supply an army of 200,000 men, when, if these conditions are not complied with, the same road would not support 30,000.

Let it be understood that requisitions for cars should always be made with sufficient notice through the quartermaster, and to the superintendent or his representatives, the agents at stations.

In time of action with an enemy it is sometimes necessary to suspend the use of the road for supply trains and hold it for the exclusive use of ammunition. Orders to this effect must come from the chief quartermaster of the army, or the commanding general, to the superintendent. No other orders will be respected by him which will conflict with the regular operation of the road.

Attention is directed to the following orders of Major-General Halleck, addressed to myself:

No military officers will give any orders to your subordinates except through you, nor will any of them attempt to interfere with the removing of the trains. In case of an attack upon the road you will consult with the commander of the nearest forces.

The railroad is entirely under your control; no military officer has any right to interfere with it. Your orders are supreme.

While no officer has any right to interfere with or interrupt the regular business of the road by detaining trains or otherwise, employes will be expected to comply with every reasonable request of officers when not incompatible with prescribed duty, and answer questions with civility. To avoid unnecessary interruption, to answer questions in regard to the time of starting trains, a clock should be conspicuously placed at each station and several notices posted giving the necessary information.

The aides of the commanding general and the train-dispatcher can be admitted to telegraph offices. All others must be excluded. As messages are read by sound no loud conversation can be permitted. Officers and soldiers crowding into telegraph offices have been a source of serious annoyance. In all such cases operators will seek the protection of the provost-marshal and ask for a guard.

H. HAUPT,

Brigadier General, Chief of Construction and Transportation,

U. S. Military Railroads.

SAINT LOUIS, MO., December 20, 1862.

Major General H. W. HALLECK,

General-in-Chief:

I telegraphed a week ago asking if I could be allowed to enlist men from the convalescents of the hospitals - men who cannot endure the