the operations of the Treasury Note Bureau; but, aside from this difficulty, I am sorry to say that the Secretary of the Treasury is wholly unable to meet the requisitions of this Department. The arrears are enormous, and I am not stating the case to strongly wholly paralyzed for want of means. A full and plain statement has been submitted to the President, and by him to the Congress. This is written for your own information only, and to show that nothing remains for the present, except to make the best of the circumstances in which we are placed. You may rely on my cordial co-operation in providing everything possible for your army. I will try to secure from the Secretary of the Navy the coffee mentioned in your dispatch of this date. *

With great respect, your obedient servant,

JOHN C. BRECKINRIDGE,

Secretary of War.

CHARLOTTE, March 1, 1865.

General R. E. LEE:

Your letter of 23rd February received. Lieutenant-General Hardee's infantry, but not his artillery and wagons, has reached Cheraw. The enemy has been stationary for a few days. Our cavalry on their right think them moving toward Florence or Cheraw; that on their left think they will come this way or go to Cheraw. I have no information of the progress of Stewart and Cheatham.

J. E. JOHNSTON.

CHARLOTTE, March 1, 1865.

General R. E. LEE,

General-in-Chief:

GENERAL: I had the honor to receive your letter of the 23rd ultimo last night, and to acknowledge it by telegraph this morning. The general views you express strengthen my hopes greatly. Lieutenant-General Hampton reported the enemy's cavalry about Lancaster yesterday, and the Fourteenth and Twentieth Corps six miles south of that point. He thinks their course probably toward Charlotte, possibly Cheraw. Major-General Bulter, writing on the previous day, reports the Fifteenth and Seventeenth Corps on the south side of Little Lynch's Creek, and the Fourteenth and Twentieth close in their rear. He thinks ths U. S. army moving on Florence, or perhaps Cheraw. The route by Charlotte, Greensborough, and Danville is very difficult now, as you remark. It would also leave your army exactly between those of General Grant and General Sherman. It seems to me, therefore, that he, General Sherman, ought not to take it. His junction with General Schofield is also an object important enough, I should think, to induce him to keep more to the east. Such a course would also render his junction with General Grant easier. I don't know we can "remove or destroy all kinds of supplies on the enemy's route. " We are compelled to leave in the houses of the inhabitants the food necessary for their subsistance, but the U. S. officers feel no such obligation. The route by which Stewart's and Cheatham's corps are expected lies west of the railroad through Chester. I am anxious to united them with Hardee's troops, if possible, before any movement by the latter. these forces

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*See February 28, p. 1290.

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82 R R- VOL XLVII, PT II