These are reflections and deductions, Mr. Secretary (which pardou me for making), plainly inferable and deducible from my standpoint, and are doubtless not strange to yourself. My telegrams from time to time have given only facts as I could glean them, as I supposed, and still suppose, you prefer to draw your own conclusions. General Torbert is directed to try and draw Fitz Lee into a fight to-day, while, in front, General Sheridan will give Early a little quiet. I am, Mr. Secretary, your obedient servant, N. P. CHIPMAN, Colonel and Aide-de-Camp. SPECIAL ORDERS, Į HDQRS. MIDDLE DEPT., STH ARMY CORPS, 2. The Ninety-first Regiment New York Veteran Volunteers, having reported to these headquarters, in obedience to orders from the honorable Secretary of War, is hereby ordered to proceed to Fort McHenry and report to Bvt. Brig. Gen. W. W. Morris, U. S. Army, commanding Second Separate Brigade, Eighth Army Corps. Bvt. Brig. Gen. W. W. MORRIS, Commanding Second Separate Brigade: GENERAL: I am directed by Major-General Wallace to say that inasmuch as the Ninety-first New York Infantry Veteran Volunteers has been ordered to report to you for duty, you are requested to strengthen the garrison at Fort Federal Hill, so that hereafter it will be unneces sary for the commanding officer there to ask for detail to forward strag glers to their commands. I am, general, very respectfully, your obedient servant, Col. J. A. HARDIE, CLARKSBURG, August 25, 1864-8 a. m. Inspector-General: I left Beverly yesterday at 7 a. m. At 3 a. m. yesterday morning a party of the enemy, about 100 strong, surprised an outpost at Huttonsville, ten miles the other side of Beverly, and captured seventy-five horses, horse equipments, arms; they did not take any of the men. The force at Beverly is 477, Eighth Ohio Cavalry; they are armed with the Union carbine, a worthless arm; have only fifteen rounds of ammunition per man; have not pistols nor sabers. One company of First West Virginia Cavalry is at Buckhannon, sixty men; this company is not mounted. About sixty of the enemy were reported seventeen miles from Buckhannon yesterday going in the direction of Weston. Only forty men at this post, none at Webster, and part of a company at Grafton. There is danger of the enemy breaking up the railroad between Cumberland and Wheeling, unless other dispositions of the troops are made in this vicinity. I go from here to Cumberland to-day. WM. SINCLAIR, Lieutenant-Colonel. HALLTOWN, VA., August 25, 1864-8 a. m. Major-General AUGUR, Commanding Department of Washington: The major-general commanding is exceedingly anxious to have Snicker's Gap and vicinity watched, and the earliest information of any movement of any enemy through the gap. He desires that you have scouting parties and reliable scouts, if you have them, sent to the gap, so as to watch it; you should send at the earliest possible moment. All wheat, hay, and fodder in Loudoun County that can be burned up should be. General Grant directs that all the crops be carried off or destroyed. Respectfully, JAS. W. FORSYTH, Lieutenant-Colonel and Chief of Staff. HDQRS. DEPARTMENT OF WASHINGTON, 22D ARMY CORPS, Washington, D. C., August 25, 1864–9 p. m. Major-General SHERIDAN, Comdy. Middle Military Division, Harper's Ferry, W. Va.: Among the persons brought in by Major Waite is one well known to me as a reliable Union man, who has heretofore given me valuable information; he is from Upperville; says he heard no talk there of the rebel army intending to move this way; says they are conscripting everybody there capable of bearing arms; those who join Mosby are exempt from joining Lee's army. By this means Mosby can command between 800 and 1,000 men. To get information from Snicker's Gap would require a force able to manage Mosby, whose headquarters are on the route there. Small parties will be picked up. I will send the Eighth Illinois Cavalry again to that vicinity as soon as it can move, and will send with it one of the regiments (very small) from Falls Church. To clean out Loudoun County and destroy the crops there will require a much larger force than I can send; I will do all I can, however. The horses of the Eighth Illinois have to be shod before they can move; I will let you know to-morrow when they will move. I have a man at Middleburg, who is employed to give me the earliest information of any move of the rebels in this direction; I trust he will not deceive me. C. C. AUGUR, Major-General, Commanding. HALLTOWN, W. VA., August 25, 1864-11 p. m. Maj. Gen. C. C. AUGUR, Commanding Department of Washington: My reports from prisoners, scouts, &c., are such as to leave but little doubt in my mind that at least two divisions of Longstreet's corps, under the command of General Anderson, are here. I sent out two divisions of cavalry to make a reconnaissance to-day on the enemy's left flank; they met Breckinridge's corps on the march at or near Blue Spring or Leetown. Our cavalry skirmished sharply with this corps all afternoon, and were forced to fall back, all but one brigade coming into Halltown; this brigade (Custer's) is supposed to have crossed at Shepherdstown. The enemy now hold Shepherdstown. I cannot say whether they will cross or not; if they do, I shall try and strike them with their force separated by the river, which is reported to be rising. The reports are that Early marched with this intention this morning. I do not think they will move on Washington. Have you any news? P. H. SHERIDAN, Major-General. Colonel TAYLOR, ALEXANDRIA, VA., August 25, 1864-7.50 p. m. Assistant Adjutant-General: COLONEL: The patrols report all quiet to-day. It is reported that Mosby attacked the post at Falls Church about 1 o'clock last night, capturing two or three men and several horses. H. H. WELLS, Lieutenant-Colonel. Lieut. Col. J. H. TAYLOR, HEADQUARTERS CAVALRY BRIGADE, Chief of Staff and Assistant Adjutant-General: COLONEL: I have the honor to report that the party under Colonel Gansevoort returned early this morning. Colonel Gansevoort obtained positive information that there is no force at either Warrenton or Culpeper; that the Orange and Alexandria Railroad is used only as far as Culpeper; that squads of 50 and 100 men frequently come up on the railroad and pass through Culpeper on their way to join the main com mand in the Valley, and that a large force, consisting of over 10,000 infantry and cavalry, passed through Warrenton about a week since. This is probably the force of which you have already been informed. The usual small parties of guerrillas were met with. The party captured and brought in five prisoners (two soldiers and three citizens), forty horses, one mule, horse equipments, and harness leather. A number of rebel uniforins were found in a house near Warrenton and burned. A picket-post, consisting of a corporal and three men (near this camp), of the Sixteenth New York Cavalry, was attacked at 2 a. m. to-day by a party of mounted rebels; four horses and two men were taken; one man badly wounded, and the corporal escaped. Augustus Klock, a citizen living near Falls Church, was arrested by Mosby yesterday near Vienna, and was released this morning. He states that Mosby on releasing him told him to inform me that he (Mosby) had sent Maj. W. H. Forbes and Captain Manning, Second Massachusetts Cavalry, to the penitentiary, in retaliation for the confinement of Jack Barnes and Phil. Trammell, two of Mosby's men. Both were tried by a court-martial in Washington and sentenced to the Albany penitentiary. Barnes, I believe, was tried for violation of the oath of allegiance and stealing horses; Trammell, for being a guerrilla. It has been ascertained quite positively that the person alluded to by you in your communication of August 24 as in the habit of visiting a female in the vicinity of Vienna is not an officer, but a non-commissioned officer of the Second Massachusetts Cavalry, who was yesterday relieved and ordered to rejoin his regiment. Very respectfully, your obedient servant, H. M. LAZELLE, Col. Sixteenth New York Vol. Cavalry, Camdg. Cavalry Brigade. P. S.-I forgot to state that Colonel Gansevoort brings information that the rebels obtain their supplies by the way of Thornton's Gap and Sperryville. The Warrenton route is used but little. HEADQUARTERS MIDDLE MILITARY DIVISION, Brevet Major-General EMORY, Halltown, Va., August 25, 1864. Commanding Nineteenth Army Corps: GENERAL: I have the honor to inform you that Colonel Currie's command has been relieved from duty at Harper's Ferry. The majorgeneral commanding has placed this brigade in position on the left of General Crook's line, and desires that it remain there for the present. Colonel Currie has been directed to report to his division commander, and to notify him when his brigade is posted. I am, very respectfully, your obedient servant, JAS. W. FORSYTH, Lieutenant-Colonel and Chief of Staff. HEADQUARTERS CAVALRY DIVISION, August 25, 1864–7.30 p.m. (Received 9.25 p. m.) Major-General COUCH: Torbert's cavalry repulsed this morning by the enemy's infantry near Leetown. Enemy exchanging shots with my pickets this evening at Shepherdstown Ford; drove in my pickets at Falling Waters to within one mile of Williamsport. Column reported moving toward Hedgesville. No enemy on this side river yet. WM. W. AVERELL, HEADQUARTERS THIRD CAVALRY DIVISION, Lieutenant-Colonel FORSYTH, Chief of Staff: August 25, 1864-4.40 p. m. The force we met this morning was Breckinridge's corps, composed of Wharton's and Gordon's divisions. A rebel lieutenant says they marched from their camp near Charlestown this morning between day. light and sunrise, passed through Leetown, aud were on march when we struck them, going, he says, to Shepherdstown; Fitz Lee's cavalry was also on the road, but had turned off toward Martinsburg; both Early and Breckinridge were at Leetown with the troops. The lieutenant further says he don't know where the two other divisions of Rodes and Ramseur are, nor where the two under Anderson are, but supposes the latter about Halltown or in that direction; their trains also moved to-day, but not by the road upon which Early was marching. An officer just in from Torbert says he thinks they are following Merritt with cavalry, but the firing seems too heavy and continuous for that; he also says Torbert had turned off the Shepherdstown [road] and is bearing directly for the river about Antietam Ford. The firing seems to grow nearer. I am sending out scouting parties. My impression is that the rebel lieutenant's statement is reliable, and that they are making a move northward. The absence of the trains is nothing significant, even if true. A strong attack on the two divisions still in your front, or thought to be, might stop them. I will forward all the prisoners at once-eight or ten. Very respectfully, your obedient servant, J. H. WILSON, HEADQUARTERS THIRD CAVALRY DIVISION, Lieutenant-Colonel FORSYTH, Chief of Staff: The two divisions of cavalry formed a junction at Walper's Cross Roads about 9 a. m., neither having seen anything of the enemy before arriving there. The command was closed up and the advance made in the following order: Chapman's brigade on extreme left, half a mile from pike; McIntosh close by the side of the pike; Custer on McIntosh's right, and Cesnola on extreme right; all by flank of brigades, with skirmishers in front; regular brigade in reserve on pike. About a mile beyond Kearneysville met the enemy. Chapman bore farther to the left, guided by Colonel Brinton; struck enemy in flank. McIntosh dismounted and moved forward heavy skirmish line; Custer same on his right. Cesnola charged, mounted, through open fields; drove the enemy three-quarters of a mile; soon ascertained that his force was all infantry; drove the skirmishers clear back, killing quite a number, and before they could attack with main force our cavalry was mounted and rapidly withdrawn, covered by a line of mounted skirmishers, and the Reserve Brigade ready to act. Officers and men behaved with great gallantry and steadiness. Loss of my division will not exceed seventy. The enemy did not pursue me after I withdrew from the pike, but seemed to continue toward Shepherdstown. General Torbert reports with cavalry. Torbert is now moving toward me. Very respectfully, your obedient servant, J. H. WILSON, HEADQUARTERS THIRD CAVALRY DIVISION, Camp Near Engel's, August 25, 1864—3.50 p. m. Brigadier-General TORBERT, Chief of Cavalry : GENERAL: We are in our old camp all right, but I find my four wagons of ammunition and ambulances have followed your route to Shepherdstown; please send them to me under charge of the bearer, |