WAR DEPARTMENT,

Washington City, March 23, 1865.

Major-General DIX, New York:

Please inform General Robert Anderson that an order from this Department will be issued this week for him to raise the U. S. flag on Fort Sumter on the 14th of April, the anniversary of the evacuation of that fort by the U. S. forces under his command. Suitable military ceremonies for the occasion will also be ordered, and an address delivered by the Rev. Henry Ward Beecher, and perhaps other gentlemen. Arrangements will be made to send General Anderson to Charleston, in company with others who may desire to participate. If General Anderson can come to Washington without jeopardy to this health I would be glad to see him.

EDWIN M. STANTON,

Secretary of War.

CONFEDERATE CORRESPONDENCE, ETC.

HEADQUARTERS LEWIS' BRIGADE,
Sister's Ferry, January 1, 1865.

Lieutenant M. G. HUDSON, Acting Assistant Adjutant-General:

SIR: In obedience to an order from corps headquarters "to move at once with his (my) command across Savannah River and report, by order, to General Iverson," I came hre day before yesterday. I find it impossible to cross without the aid of a steamer on account of the flood of the river. This fact I informed you of in a dispatch sent upon my arrival here, and again on yesterday, and also that the steamer, which you informed me in a communication accompanying the order would be sent here to assist in crossing my command, had not arrived. I have received no answer to either dispatch, nor has the steamer yet arrived. Having neither rations nor forage near this point, and as you regard the order to cross as "has some urgency in it," I move this morning up the river till I do find a practicable crossing. In the absence of any order from you, and despairing of the arrival of the steamer, I do not know what other course to pursue.

Respectfully,

J. H. LEWIS,

Brigadier-General, Commanding.

HARDEEVILLE, January 1, 1865.

Major-General McLAWS:

Brigadier-General Anderson reports that a reliable scout reports the enemy at least 1,000 strong on Hutchinson's Island, with artillery and horsemen. Also reports them unloading plank on Pennyworth's Island, and a pile of plank some five or six feet high on island. The transports reported leaving Savannah yesterday were going down the river.

W. Y. C. HUMES,

Brigadier-General.

[Indorsement.]

The above sent to General Hardee, and also three transports full of troops went down the Savannah River yesterday, December 31, 1864.

L. McLAWS.