RANDOLPH'S HOUSE,

Near Richmond, October 7, 1864.

Colonel W. H. TAYLOR,

Assistant Adjutant-General, Army of Northern Virginia:

I have not reported formally for duty, because I doubted the propriety of my being assigned to a position, in my crippled condition, now occupied by officers of vigorous health. If I can be of service in any position, I desire to be assigned to duty. If there is no duty to which I can be assigned on this side of the Mississippi River without displacing an officer, I will cheerfully accept service in the Trans-Mississippi Department. My physicians give me but little reason to expect to recover the use of my right arm within a year; hence my desire top be assigned at once to any service that I may be able to discharge, or that I may have an extended leave of absence.

Very respectfully, your obedient servant,

J. LONGSTREET.

HEADQUARTERS JOHNSON'S DIVISION,
Petersburg, Va., October 7, 1864.

Lieutenant-Colonel PALMER,

Assistant Adjutant-General:

COLONEL: I desire to call the attention of the lieutenant-general commanding to the weakness of my line. My division now occupiers the lines formerly occupied by Hoke's division, my division, and two brigades of Mahone's division. This, if continued, I apprehend, will be unsafe. If my line could be diminished until it embraced only that occupied by Hoke's division and my own, it would give much grater security. If this cannot be done, I would ask that my right brigade may be relieved, so that I can strengthen my left and improve my defensive works. In this connection, it may not be out of place to suggest that the free and other negroes of Petersburg and vicinity might be made greatly to aid in the construction of rear lines and other works not exposed to dangerous fire from the enemy's line.

Very respectfully, your obedient servant,

B. R. JOHNSON,

Major-General.

SPECIAL ORDERS, ADJT. AND INSP. GENERAL'S OFFICE,

Numbers 239. Richmond, October 8, 1864.

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XXIII. Lieutenant Colonel R. C. Smith, First Maryland Cavalry, is assigned to the command of the camp of the Maryland Line, near this city.

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XXXI. So much of paragraph I, Special Orders, Numbers 235, current series, as refers to Major Giles B. Cooke, assistant adjutant-general, is hereby revoked. Major Cooke is assigned to duty at the headquarters of General R. E. Lee, and will report accordingly.

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