HEADQUARTERS SECOND ARMY CORPS,
January 29, 1865 - 11 a. m.

General S. WILLIAMS,

Assistant Adjutant-General:

No changes in the disposition of this command since last report. Two deserters from the enemy came into our lines last night.

A. A. HUMPHREYS,

Major-General.

HEADQUARTERS SIXTH ARMY CORPS,
January 20, 1865. (Received 11 a. m.)

Lieutenant-Colonel BARSTOW,

Assistant Adjutant-General:

I have the honor to report that nothing of importance has transpired on the lines of this corps during the past twenty-four hours. Copies of Lieutenant-General Grant's order respecting deserters and the order announcing the fall of Fort Fisher were successfully passed across the lines yesterday.

GEO. W. GETTY,

Brevet Major-General, Commanding.

HEADQUARTERS NINTH ARMY CORPS,
January 20, 1865.

Bvt. Major General A. S. WEBB,

Chief of Staff:

Nothing new to report along our lines during the past twenty-four hours.

JNO. G. PARKE,

Major-General.

WASHINGTON, D. C., January 20, 1865.

Honorable E. M. STANTON,

Secretary of War:

SIR: The order of the President, conveyed through Lieutenant-General Grant, relieving me from the command of the Department of Virginia and North Carolina was served upon me at 12 noon on the 8th day of January instant, in a sealed envelope, at which hour I gave a written receipt thereof. By the boat at 10 o'clock from City Point a written dispatch left headquarters of the lieutenant-general commanding, at City Point, purporting to be signed by one Cadwallader, reported of the New York Herald, announcing the fact that I had been relieved, stating the comments thereon, and purporting to give the reasons thereof. This dispatch was published in the Herald of the 10th. The order of the President was conveyed to General Grant in a cipher dispatch, so that the information could only have been given to the Herald correspondent from the staff of the lieutenant-general, as from him it cannot be supposed that any such information would be derived. The communication of an order by the staff of a general before its execution is in violation of all regulations and military usage. There has been munch complaint during