HEADQUARTERS THIRD CAVALRY DIVISION,
March 18, 1864.

Colonel C. ROSS SMITH,

Chief of Staff, Cavalry Corps:

Colonel Bryan has forwarded 6 men, two of whom are scouts; they will reach you this p. m., together with passes and papers found on them. Colonel Bryan report the country full of bushwhackers.

No official information of the enemy being on the north side of the Rappahannock.

Very respectfully,

J. KILPATRICK,

Brigadier-General.

ALEXANDRIA, March 18, 1864.

Lieutenant Colonel J. H. TAYLOR, Assistant Adjutant-General:

COLONEL: I have the following information from a party who left rebel lines on Monday night: There is a light picket of cavalry at long intervals from Ogange Court-House to Madison Court-House, and thence to Robertson's Church, and but very little cavalry to be met or seen met or seen elsewhere. Three and a half brigades of cavalry were sent to Louisa Spotsylvania Court-House two days after Kilpatrick's raid, and had not returned on Monday last. It is rumored, he says, that there is considerable cavalry near Fredericksburg.

Respectfully,

H. H. WELLS,

Lieutenant-Colonel and provost-Marshal-General.

HDQRS. FIRST DIV., DEPT. OF WEST VIRGINIA,
Harper's Ferry, W. Va., March 18, 1864.

Captain T. Melvin,

Assistant Adjutant-General:

CAPTAIN: The following has been received from Martinsburg, Va., and respectfully forwarded for the information of the general commanding the department:

HDQRS. SECOND BRIGADE, FIRST DIVISION, DEPT. OF WEST VIRGINIA,
Martinsburg, Va., March 17, 1864.

CAPTAIN: I have the honor to report the arrival to-day of 3 refugees from Stunton. They report that Rosser has gone to Gordonsville to join Lee; that early is no longer in that region; that there is nothing in Staunton but a provost guard; that Imboden only is in the valley, and with Gilmor and Mosby, has not more than 2,000 men. They say that Staunton is regarded as second in importance only to Richmond, the supply for Lee's army coming in a great measure from the valley, and that if the commissary stores there were seized, the bridge burnt, and railroad torn up, so as to sever communication, it would be fatal. They report a raid contemplate some days since to throw the train containing Kilpatrick's horses off the track; they report great scarcity of provisions. Rebel meat rations are 1 pound to 8 men; forage mostly gone; cattle, what there are, in very bad condition-meat fairly blue after being killed; that the scarcity is so great that Lee's army must break into our lines or starve; that there is much discontent among the soldiers and desire to desert at the first opportunity; that there are very many loyal men in the valley who pray for the Union army to come in; that the force which went up the valley last greatly strengthened the Union sentiment by their good treatment of the inhabitants. They obtained a pass to Strasburg and thence came through without difficulty. They heard Gilmor was wounded, but saw him last night in Winchester on horseback. A supper was given him there night. He came into Winches-