from town this morning. The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad will be he completed to-morrow; therefore, you will please hold the regiment and battery in readiness, as I may wish to send it farther west. Nothing from Milroy this morning.

B. F. KELLEY

Brigadier-General.

ROBT C. SCHENCK,

Major-General.

HEADQUARTERS EIGHTH ARMY CORPS,
Baltimore, January 5, 1863.

Brigadier General B. F. KELLEY,

Commanding Harper's Ferry, [W.] Va.:

The following telegram was received to-day from Major-General Halleck, General-in-Chief.

Major-General SCHENCK:

No attempt should be made to hold Winchester against a large force of the enemy, but use simply as an outpost, as advised in our conversation a day or two ago. Isolated posts and columns are too liable to be cut off. I will telegraph you about Heintzelman's move as soon as I hear from his scouts.

H. W. HALLECK,

General-in-Chief.

General Halleck does not quite agree with General Schenck and yourself as to the policy of covering and protecting the road principally by keeping up strong advanced posts at Leesburg, Winchester, and Romney.

WM. D. WHIPPLE,

Assistant Adjutant-General.