Within the last two days there have been movements the design of which I have not been able to penetrate. Day before yesterday it was reported that they broke up a ten-gun battery on Poquosin and Cheeseman's Creeks.

I have sent out reconnoitering parties to ascertain if possible what the enemy is doing or intends to do.

JOHN E. WOOL,

Major-General.

SPECIAL ORDERS, HDQRS. ARMY OF THE POTOMAC,

Numbers 83. Near Alexandria Seminary, Va., March 17, 1862.

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III. Colonel Dixon S. Miles, Second Infantry, commanding Railway Brigade, will report his command to Major General John A. Dix, commanding at Baltimore, but may receive his instructions with regard to that portion of the railway lying within the geographical limits of the District of Columbia from Brigadier General James S. Wadsworth, military governor of that District.

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By command of Major-General McClellan:

R. B. IRWIN,

Captain, Aide-de-Camp, Actg. Asst. Adjt. General

SPECIAL ORDERS, HDQRS. ARMY OF THE POTOMAC,

Numbers 83. Near Alexandria Seminary, March 17, 1862.

Supplementary.

Brigadier General J. S. Wadsworth having been assigned to duty, by the direction of the President, as military governor of the District of Columbia, will, besides the military command of the city of Washington, assume the charge of the defenses north and south of the defenses north and south of the Potomac in the vicinity of Washington.

The limits of his command will embrace the District of Columbia, the city of Alexandria, the ground in front of and in the vicinity of the defensive works south of the Potomac from the Occoguan to Difficult Creek, and the post of Fort Washington. He will have charge of the provisional brigades, composed of new troops arriving in Washington, and will exercise supervision over the troops in the city.

By command of Major-General McClellan:

S. WILLIAMS,

Assistant Adjutant-General.

WASHINGTON, D. C., March 18, 1862-9.40 a. m.

Major General JOHN E. WOOL, Fort Monroe:

Ordered that, in recognition of faithful service by a distinguished and gallant officer, the name of the fort on the ripraps be changed from Fort Calhoun to Fort Wool, by which name it shall hereafter be know and designated.

EDWIN M. STANTON,

Secretary of War.