of East North Carolina should be under the control of Lieutenant Colonel . W. H. Stevens, chief of construction, and for this reason you were instructed to report to him directly. The local engineers at Goldsborough, Kinston, the works on Tar River, and at Rainbow Bend should, and will hereafter, report to Colonel Stevens. For the present your duties are limited to the works at Weldon, N. C., under the direction of the chief of construction. I will take occasion to read your report to Colonel Stevens in regard tot he works for the defense of Weldon Bridge.

Very respectfully, your obedient servant,

J. F. GILMER,

Colonel of Engineer and Chief of Bureau.

HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF THE NORTH CAROLINA,
Goldsborough, N. C., February 18, 1863.

Major General J. G. FOSTER, U. S. A.,

Commanding Eighteenth Army Corps, New Berne, N. C.:

GENERAL: In a communication addressed to me, and written by Major General J. G. Foster, U. S. A., and dated at New Berne on the 31st day of December last, he desired that a watch which was taken the person of Surgeon Hunt, who was killed in a skirmish near the town of Washington, should be returned, to be placed in the possession of his relatives. On the publication of General Foster's letter the man who had the watch voluntarily sent it to me, and it now affords me much pleasure to be able to return it to you, that it may be placed in the hands of his relatives. Will not this act of a private in our army, voluntarily returning this watch, offer a noble example to some of your generals and their wives, who have taken (I will not say stolen) pianos, bedsteads, dining sets, works of art and virtu, horses, carriages, &c., and carried them to their homes in the North, to return them to their owners? I regret to make such charges against your officers, and above all against their wives; but than such acts are committed by men in high position, or by women of intelligence and refinement, it deserves condemnation. I refrain from naming them, but if you wish it names shall be sent and the alleged acts specified and the whole sent you for publication to show the world that nighter rank nor position nor religion nor female loveliness can resist the temptation to violate the commandments when what they covet is the property of a rebel. These remarks, general, are not personal to you, and are intended only for those to whom they truly apply. I send you a letter which has been handed me mentioning some instances where private property has been taken in New Berne.*

I am, general, yours, very respectfully,

S. G. FRENCH,

Major-General, Commanding.

WAR DEPARTMENT, C. S. A.,

Richmond, Va., February 19, 1863.

Brigadier General R. A. PRYOR:

Ascertain as early and as far as possible the proposed movements of the enemy at Newport News and Suffolk. Is there reason to believe they are intended for North or South Carolina?

J. A. SEDDON,

Secretary of War.

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*Not found.

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