Major-General COUCH, Moseley Hall : GOLDSBOROUGH, March 28, 1865. Your dispatch is received. My map indicates two roads striking the railroad about midway between Goldsborough and Moseley Hall. thought if these roads exist I would send a division from here to cover them. I have sent Captain Lord to see. Your patrolling is very well. J. M. SCHOFIELD, Major-General. MOSELEY HALL, March 28, 1865-7.30 p.m. Colonel CAMPBELL: Twenty-five rebel horsemen attacked a party of the Twelfth New York to-day at the intersection of Moseley Hall and Snow Hill road with the Goldsborough and Snow Hill road four miles this side of latter place. The rebels were run off. I have an idea they were O'Conner's party. A half dozen of Sherman's foragers were carried off by them. Otherwise everything seems to be quiet on my front. D. N. COUCH, Major-General. HEADQUARTERS TWELFTH NEW YORK CAVALRY, Captain CILLEY: CAPTAIN: Captain Church, sent out this morning with three companies, has returned. He reached Snow Hill and returned without material adventure. Lieutenant Haas, with fourteen men, charged upon the force which fired on the bummers and dispersed them without trouble, but was unable to make any captures. Negroes reported 200 cavalry beyond Contentnea Creek. I find to-day easy roads to Best's Station, on my left, and General Stiles on my right. My pickets extend now to Snow Hill and Hookerton, but, of course, are not very strong. Very respectfully, JAS. W. SAVAGE, Colonel Twelfth New York Cavalry. HDQRS. FIRST AND SECOND DIVS., 23D ARMY CORPS, General MCLEAN: Moseley Hall, N. C., March 28, 1865. GENERAL: The commanding general directs me to say that he has information from Goldsborough that a division of the enemy's cavalry is moving, with four guns, on our communications north of the Neuse River. He desires you to be on the qui vive and report promptly any indications of the enemy's approach. I am, general, very respectfully, your obedient servant, 4 R R-VOL XLVII, PT III C. A. CILLEY, Assistant Adjutant-General. MOSELEY HALL, N. C., March 28, 1865. Brigadier-General MCLEAN, Commanding Second Division: GENERAL: You will please to have the guard so strengthened at the railroad bridge over Bear Creek that the works cannot be carried by assault. If the enemy is marching this way, as is rumored, nothing definite being known, I see no other way but to pitch into them. You have, no doubt, abatis on your front, with pits, so that you could leave your wagon trains, camp, &c., quickly and march out. I think the enemy have sent scouts in from Snow Hill. Please allow no citizen to come through your lines unless he is to remain. I think the guards on the railroad should be from one regiment; they can be controlled better, rationed, &c. It would be well to have stockades or some means of defense at the different detachment headquarters that there can be no surprise. Please inform General Ruger and myself quickly if you get any information as to the enemy's movements. Respectfully, (Copy to General Ruger.) D. N. COUCH, KINSTON, March 28, 1865. Col. J. A. CAMPBELL: Your dispatch was received at 1 o'clock this enemy have not appeared in front of my lines. morning. As yet the E. HARLAND, Brigadier-General. HEADQUARTERS PROVISIONAL CORPS, Brigadier-General REILLY: GENERAL: The commanding general directs that as soon as the weather is favorable you send one brigade of your command to make a thorough reconnaissance upon the road where the enemy's cavalry were found yesterday. Very respectfully, your obedient servant, SPECIAL ORDERS, HEADQUARTERS PROVISIONAL Corps, Faison's Depot, N. C., March 28, 1865. * * II. Bvt. Maj. Gen. C. J. Paine, commanding Third Division, Twentyfifth Army Corps, will detail one strong regiment from his command and send it at once to Warsaw Station, with orders to intrench themselves and guard that portion of the railroad. By order of Maj. Gen. A. H. Terry: A. TERRY, Major and Assistant Adjutant-General. HDQRS. DEPT. OF NORTH CAROLINA, ARMY OF THE OHIO, Goldsborough, N. C., March 28, 1865. Brig. Gen. J. R. HAWLEY, Commanding District of Wilmington: GENERAL: Your report of the 20th of affairs in your district is very satisfactory, but there is one thing I do not quite understand, viz, the shipment of cotton by the Treasury agents. My orders, based upon one from Lieutenant-General Grant, directed that all contraband property captured about Wilmington be turned over to the quartermaster's department, to be held subject to my orders. The object was to properly dispose of all property which became prize of war in the capture of Wilmington. Such property is not to be turned over to the Treasury Department, but is to be sent North to be disposed of as the Secretary of War may direct. I inclose for your guidance a copy of General Grant's order on the subject. Please give me as soon as practicable a full report of all property seized and the disposition made of it. I have just learned from Colonel Hayes that he did not turn over to you my order on this subject, which accounts for the error, if one has been committed. I inclose a copy of that order also. Very respectfully, J. M. SCHOFIELD, Major-General. HEADQUARTERS DISTRICT OF WILMINGTON, Brig. Gen. S. VAN VLIET, Chief Quartermaster, New York City: SIR: I have the honor to forward herewith on the steamer General Sedgwick about 400 white refugees. They are a small portion of those accumulated by Major-General Sherman during his late march. When the general reached Fayetteville, finding the multitude impeding his march and eating all the food within reach, he turned the caravan toward Wilmington under guard. In his written instructions he said that he desired to have the white refugees sent to New York to the commissioners of immigration. Even if they are all to be fed by the Government, it can be done much cheaper there. Here they get but imperfect rations, which, with the exposure and crowding, threatens to bring pestilence. They impede and endanger military operations. Supplies cannot be gathered from the surrounding country. We have large numbers of the residents of this vicinity on our hands already. I have the honor to be, very respectfully, your obedient servant, JOS. R. HAWLEY, Brigadier-General, Commanding, and Provost-Marshal-General. Maj. Gen. Q. A. GILLMORE, HEADQUARTERS OF THE ARMY, Commanding Department of the South: GENERAL: I inclose herewith a copy of General Orders, No. 50, War Department, March 27, in regard to replacing the old flag on Fort Sumter.* You will make the proper arrangements for carrying out the *See p. 34. President's orders. General Anderson will be accompanied by such officers of his former command as may be available, and also by a number of invited guests. It is probable also that other visitors may go from New York and other Northern cities. Every proper facility should, therefore, be prepared for landing at Fort Sumter, and also for hearing the address of the Rev. Mr. Beecher. Admiral Dahlgren will receive his instructions from the Navy Department. You will, however, give him a copy of the President's order, and consult with him in regard to arrangements for the ceremonies." Very respectfully, your obedient servant, H. W. HALLECK, Major-General and Chief of Staff. HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF THE SOUTH, Brig. Gen. J. A. RAWLINS, Hilton Head, S. C., March 28, 1865. Chief of Staff, Armies of the United States, City Point, Va.: GENERAL: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of Special Orders, No. 48, dated headquarters Armies of the United States, City Point, Va., March 10, 1865, upon the subject of trade.* The provisions of that order do not, as I interpret it, in any way affect existing orders and regulations in this department, for no traffic has been engaged in beyond the lines of actual military occupation since I assumed command, and the trade within the lines has been carefully restricted to the wants of the army and of the inhabitants depending on it for sup port. Several persons having authority to purchase cotton for the Treasury Department, and bearing the order of the President to pass them and their means of transportation to and fro through the lines, are within my command, awaiting an opportunity to begin operations. Thus far their efforts have been restricted to preliminary negotiations in consequence of the delays they experience in finding the parties they sought or pretend to seek beyond the lines. An "agent for the purchase of the products of insurrectionary States on behalf of the Government of the United States" has been sent here by the Treasury Department with instructions to take post at Fernandina, Fla. All needful military restrictions to prevent supplies reaching the enemy shall be imposed upon trade in that quarter. I have been led to believe that it is the wish of our Government to get possession of as large a quantity as possible of the products of insurrectionary States, especially cotton, so far as it can be done without in any degree giving aid to the insurgents or compromising the success of military operations. It has been stated also, on apparently good authority, that the Confederate Government is equally desirous of getting rid of the cotton within their lines, and that since the fall of Wilmington and Charleston has put a stop to blockade-running on this coast, they are not very particular as to the terms upon which the owners dispose of it. This is not altogether the case, however. The military authorities keep a very careful watch upon all cotton operations, in order to secure to their Government an immedi ate benefit for every pound that is disposed of. They are willing it should leave their lines, but want to be paid for it in supplies. A military officer is appointed to examine and approve all invoices of cotton sent out, as well as of the goods to be received for it. This I learn *See Part II, p. 915, from intercepted correspondence between holders of cotton in the interior and their agents and friends in Savannah and Charleston. The parties holding and controlling large lots of cotton as a general rule, believing that the war is near its close and that it behooves them to look out for their own interests while there is yet time, had much rather exchange it for U. S. currency than for supplies upon which they would not be able to realize anything of greater value than Confederate notes. I have reason to believe that there is a very considerable amount of cotton held or controlled by persons entertaining these views so located at the present time that it can reach our lines without the knowledge of the rebel military authorities. It is more particularly with regard to cotton thus circumstanced and parties thus disposed that I have thought it my duty to address you upon this subject. The question is, can Special Orders, No. 48, be so interpreted or amended as to allow "the purchase of the products of insurrectionary States" by Treasury agents for cash in South Carolina and Georgia, excluding the seller from the privilege of taking any supplies whatever into the interior? I inclose copies of the only orders issued from these headquarters upon the subject of trade. Very respectfully, your obedient servant, Q. A. GILLMORE, Major-General, Commanding. HEADQUARTERS DISTRICT OF SAVANNAH, Savannah, Ga., March 28, 1865. ASSISTANT ADJUTANT-GENERAL, HDQRS. DEPT. OF THE SOUTH: SIR: I have the honor to inclose what purports to be an order from the Department of State, cut from a newspaper. The order is a very important one, and bears upon a large number of persons in this city, if taken literally as it reads. reads. I would respectfully ask to be informed if any action shall be taken upon it before the reception of the official copy, and also if any exceptions shall be taken from the literal reading of the order, which, as it stands, makes no exception in the cases of those who may have heretofore taken the amnesty oath. I would request to be informed if General Grant's Special Orders, No. 13, shall go into effect before the reception of the official order, and also if it is construed to suspend operations in cotton entered into upon Treasury permits having the indorsement of the President. And also if under that order such latitude can be allowed to persons bringing in provisions for sale under the order of General Sherman as will allow them to take out with them trifling articles for household use, such persons, of course, living in a part of the country not frequented by armed rebels. I am, sir, very respectfully, your obedient servant, [Inclosure.] Disloyal citizens and blockade-runners.-Important order. DEPARTMENT OF STATE, Washington, March 14, 1865. The President directs that all persons who now are, or hereafter shall be, found within the United States, who have been engaged in holding intercourse or trade with the insurgents by sea, if they are |