2nd. That the Winchester and Potomac Railroad, being the line of supply for General Banks, operating the road will remain under his direction.

EDWIN M. STANTON,

Secretary of War.

BALTIMORE, MD.,

June 17, 1862-5.20 p. m.

Honorable E. M. STANTON,

Secretary or War:

SIR: I have just received your dispatch of this date especially assigning to me the military command and protection of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad east of Cumberland to the city of Baltimore and of the railroad between Harper's Ferry and Winchester. I will enter upon the duty immediately. Can you not furnish me with horses for some 600 of the Eighth New York Cavalry at Harper's Ferry? I will send one or two regiments to Harper's Ferry and its vicinity. I will also send a company of heavy volunteer artillery to man the heavy guns at Harper's Ferry. I shall be glad to know if you approve of my intentions as above expressed.

JOHN E. WOOL,

Major-General.

HEADQUARTERS STURGIS' BRIGADE,
Washington, June 17, 1862.

Honorable E. M. STANTON,

Secretary of War, Washington, D. C.:

SIR: The troops of my command in the vicinity of Tennallytown are Fifty-ninth New York Volunteers, Ninth and Tenth Rhode Island Volunteers with one battery of 12-pounders attached, Seventy-first New York Volunteers, detachments of Eleventh, Fourteenth, Seventeenth, and Nineteenth Regular Infantry, and Battery L, Second New York, six 10-pounder rifled-steel guns, the whole numbering about 4,500 men. All these troops, except the Fifty-ninth New York and Battery L, are raw and undisciplined, and should all (except the Fifty-ninth, which occupies the forts) be united with whatever other troops there may be in the vicinity of Washington in one (or at most two) central positions, where they could be properly drilled and disciplined and learn to know each other and act together. In this shape these troops could be kept in hand and rapidly thrown to any point that might be threatened.

The fortifications in the northwest part of the District are-

First. Fort Pennsylvania, garrisoned by three companies Fifty-ninth New York, Colonel Tidball in command. This fort is in good condition and provided with everything necessary for defense. Its armament consists of nine 24-pounders and three 20-pounder Parrott rifled field pieces. One hundred and seventy-six men.

Second. Fort Gaines, also in good condition, garrisoned by one company Fifty-ninth New York, Captain Whitney in command. Armament, four 32-pounders. Sixty-eight men.