CUMBERLAND, August 15, 1864.

Captain P. G. BIER,

Assistant Adjutant-General:

I really know not what to do in regard to the 100-days' men. They are unwilling to remain after their time expires. I have no forces to compel them. Besides the necessity of protecting the railroad and the public property, we have 1,500 sick in the hospital, liable to capture by McNeill.

B. F. KELLEY,

Brigadier-General.

CUMBERLAND, August 15, 1864.

Brigadier-General SULLIVAN,

Charleston:

Department headquarters is at Harper's Ferry. No orders have been issued in regard to Ohio National Guard, except they are to be sent to the place where they were mustered in, and will take their arms with them when they go.

B. F. KELLEY,

Brevet Major-General.

HDQRS. MIDDLE DEPARTMENT, EIGHTH ARMY CORPS, Baltimore, Md., August 15, 1864.

LieutenantColonel SAMUEL B. LAWRENCE,

Assistant Adjutant-General, Eigth Army Corps:

COLONEL: I have the honor to submit for the information of the general commanding the following report as the result of my investigation into the origin of the picnic recently held near Wilmington, in the State of Delaware, and the effect of the arrest of the managers thereof and their subsequent release:

The avowed object of this picnic was for the benefit of the rebel prisoners confined in Fort Delaware. It is urged in mitigation of the offense that permission was asked of the military authorities. Such, however, appears not to have been the case. One of the parties interested requested an officer of the Board of Enrollment to ask permission, This officer consulted unofficially with the provost-marshal, who disclaimed having any power in the premises, informing him that application must be made to the military commander. No such application was, however, made to him. The holding of the picnic, therefore, is regarded by the loyal men of the State both as an insult to the Government and as an experiment to test the forbearance of the military power and the animus of the disloyalists. As an evidence of the spirit affecting these people, it may be mentioned that the members of the band engaged for the occasion, after performing two national airs, were informed that such music was not desirable; that they wished to hear Southern airs, and unless the band could play such it might leave. The wife of one of the parties desiring to know why they could not hold an entertainment upon their grounds, was answered by another in these words, "Because Abe Lincoln is President."

Other incidents connected with the affair, including the arrest and subsequent release of the managers, as also the ovation paid to them upon their return to Wimington, have been reported in detail by the officers immediately interested. I beg, however, to inform you that the arrest