[Inclosure Numbers 14.] BUREAU OF SUBSISTENCE, Richmond, February 11, 1865.

Colonel L. B. NORTHROP,

Commissary-General of Subsistence:

SIR: In response to your quarry as to the contracts made in this bureau for supplies from abroad, I have to state, generally, what I have elaborated recently at some length in written testimony to a joint committed of the both houses of Congress, that all the contracts that I have made have failed for various reasons. At this time I understand that the bureau has no power, under a recent order, to make contracts for supplies payable in cotton in the Department of Alabama, Mississippi, and East Louisiana.

Very respectfully,

FRANK G. RUFFIN,

Lieutenant-Colonel and Commissary of Subsistence.

[Indorsement.]

BUREAU OF SUBSISTENCE,

Richmond, February 16, 1865.

Respectfully referred for the information of the Secretary of War, in connection with report of Commissary-General of 9th instant.

L. B. NORTHROP,

Commissary-General of Subsistence.

SPECIAL ORDERS,
ADJT. AND INSP. GENERAL'S OFFICE, Numbers 33.
Richmond, February 9, 1865.

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IX. The Forty-sixth and Forty-seventh Virginia Battalions Cavalry are hereby consolidated, and will constitute the Twenty-sixth Regiment Virginia Cavalry. Lieutenant Colonel J. K. Kesler and Major H. D. Ruffner, of the Forty-sixth Battalion, are assigned as lieutenant-colonel and major, respectively, of the new organization.

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By command of Secretary of War:

JNO. WITHERS,
Assistant Adjutant-General.

GENERAL ORDERS,
HEADQUARTERS CONFEDERATE ARMY, Numbers 1.
February 9, 1865.

In obedience to General Orders, Numbers 3, Adjutant and Inspector General's Office, February 6, 1865, I assume command of the military forces of the Confederate States. Deeply impressed with the difficulties and responsibility of the position, and humbly invoking the guidance of Almighty God, I rely for success upon the courage and fortitude of the army, sustained by the patriotism and firmness of the people, confident that their untied efforts, under the blessing of Heaven, will secure peace and independence. The headquarters of the army, to which all special reports and communications will be addressed, will be, for the