HDQRS. DEPT. OF VIRGINIA, SEVENTH ARMY CORPS,
Fort Monroe, Va., December 10, 1862.

Brigadier General M. C. MEIGS,

Quartermaster-General, U. S. A.;

GENERAL: The gunboat was launched to-day at Norfolk and was named General Jesup, after one of your predecessors. Captain Ludlow thinks he can complete her in forty days. I will see that she is properly armed and manned. She is a beautiful, and I trust will be a useful, vessel.

The amount (about $6,000) expended on her before she same into our hands was contributed by the ladies of Norfolk under the regime of the insurgents.

I am, very respectfully, your obedient servant,

JOHN A. DIX,

Major-General.

SUFFOLK, December 10, 1862.

Major-General DIX:

I am sorry that a move is expected so soon. Unless I have some rest I fear I shall break down altogether and be of no use. Foster will be at the place designated on the 20th. He said he expected to keep Wessells for a move to Wilmington. If so he will be gone till January. Troops are being inspected, requisitions made, and everything supplied. The instruction is crowded as rapidly as possible. Ferry knows all my views and plans and what kind of transportation will be needed on moving from here.

JOHN J. PECK,

Major-General.

FORT MONROE, December 10, 1862.

Major-General PECK:

What can I do if you go away? You are entitled to go, and permission would be granted if you ask it. General Halleck advises me that my command must be ready to move the moment Wessells returns, perhaps before, say by the 20th. I send you twenty iron wagons. They are not the improved pattern. They are intended to float and hold up their running gear. When detached from the carriages they are pontoons. Try them in the Nansemond.

JOHN A. DIX,

Major-General.

HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF NORTH CAROLINA,
New Berne, N. C., December 10, 1862.

Major General H. W. HALLECK,

Commander-in-Chief U. S. Army, Washington, D. C.:

GENERAL: I have the honor to report that I am about to take the field again against the enemy in the direction of Goldsborough.

The information that I have received is to the effect that the enemy's Government is turning its attention to the importance of guarding the lines of communication to the south, and, if possible, of recovering some portion of the eastern portion of this State, the rich products of which would at this time be very valuable as supplies to their commissariat.