E GEO. B. McCLELLAN to L. THOMAS, Adjutant-General, U. S. Army, April 1, 1862

April 1, 1862.

Steamer Coi i nd Tp ommodore, April 1, 1862.

the honorable Secretary of War: The approximate numbers and Potomac are as follows: General Dix has, after

him 5,000 for the defense of Baltimore and 1.9. i ( 8 88 available for the East Annapolis, dc. Fort Delaware is very well garrisoned by about SOO hen: cm sese

The garrisons of the forts around Washi ft shington ; i E ble troops now with General Wadsworth on 11,400: LR E

positions of the troops left near and in rear of the

quest that you will lay the following communication before —

guarding the railroads under his charge, sufficient to give

‘The troops employed in guarding the various railways in Maryland amount to some . 93,259 men. These it is designed to relieve, being old regiments, by dismounted cav=

_alry, and to send forward to Manassas. s

General Abercrombie occupies Warrenton with a force which, including Colonel Geary at White Plains and the cavalry to be at his disposal, will amount to some 7,780 men, with 12 pieces of artillery. .

I have the honor to request that all the troops organized for service in Pennsylvania and New York and in’any of the Eastern States may be ordered to Washington. Ilearn from Governor Curtin that there are some 3,500 men now ready in PennSylvania. This force I should be glad to have seut to Manassas” Four thousand men from General Wadsworth I desire to be ordered to Manassas. These troops, with the railroad guards above alluded to, wil make up a force under the command of General Abercrombie of something like 18,639 men. <

It is my design to push General Blenker’s division from Warrenton upon Strasburg. . He should remain at Strasburg long enough to allow matters to assume a definite form in that region before proceeding to his ultimate destination.

The troops in the valley of the Shenandoah will thus, including Blenker’s division, 10,028 strong, with 24 pieces of artillery: Banks’ Fifth Corps, which embraces the command of General Shields, 19,687 strong, with 41 guns; some 3,652 disposable cavalry and the railroad guards, about 2,100 men, amount to about 35,467 men.

It is designed to relieve General Hooker by one regiment, say 850 men, béing, with some 500 cavalry, 1,350 men on the Lower Potomac.

There would thus be left for the garrisons and the front of Washington, under General Wadsworth, some 18,000, inclusive of the batteries under instruction. Thetroops ‘ organizing or ready for service in New York, I learn, will probably number more than ,

4,000. These should be assembled at Washington, subject to disposition where their services may be most required.

very respectfully, your obedient servant, i

E GEO. B. McCLELLAN,

Major- General, Commanding.

The following letter from General Barry shows that thirty-two field

guns, with men, horses, and equipments, were also left in Washington

City when the army sailed. These were the batteries under instruction

referred to above: