landing boats will revert to the chief quartermaster for immediate supplies.

XI. The sick and non-effective men will remain on board the several transports until provision can be made for them on shore. The non-effective will be specially charged with the care of the sick, under directions to be left by the respective medical officers.

XII. Medical officers, excepting one from each brigade, to be designated by the respective brigade commanders, will land with the troops. The three medical officers left afloat will, under the directions of the medical director, divide the duty of visiting all the sick on board, including those of the Third Rhode Island Regiment and the Battalion of Volunteer Engineers.

By order of Brigadier General T. W. Sherman:

L. H. PELOUZE,

Captain, Fifteenth Infantry, Actg. Asst. Adjt. General.

CIRCULAR.] HEADQUARTERS EXPEDITIONARY CORPS,

U. S. F. Wabash, October 26, 1861.

In consequence of the present unexpected delay in putting to sea, on account of unfavorable weather, it is considered indispensable to impress upon the minds of all commanding officers of troops on transports the strict necessity of conforming to orders heretofore given, respecting cleanliness and the economy in the use of water.

To still further secure the command from an eventual want of water, all steam transports will, whilst lying still, be occupied in condensing as much water as practicable.

It is probable that some of the transports will hold their troops from twenty to thirty days.

All commanding officers will see the necessity of having everything in readiness for a prompt debarkation. The field artillery particularly will have its guns, carriages, horses and harness ready to disembark without unnecessary delay. All obstructions on board preventing this promptness must be removed as soon as the transports get to sea.

Every transport, as well as the troops on board, must be ready to sail at any moment, when the proper signals are given.

By order of Brigadier General T. W. Sherman:

L. H. PELOUZE,

Captain, Fifteenth Infantry, Actg. Asst. Adjt. General.

HEADQUARTERS EXPEDITIONARY CORPS,
Hampton Roads, October 27, 1861.

General M. C. MEIGS,

Quartermaster-General U. S. Army, Washington, D. C.:

The unexpected delay of the expedition at this point, owing to the stormy and unfavorable state of the weather for our light vessels and tugs, will, it is very much to be apprehended, produce a failure in our supply of water.

Our horses have already been on board some thirteen days and men a week. Although all the vessels were loaded with all the water they could carry, some of the transports are already reduced to a supply for nine days.