[Indorsements.]

ORDNANCE OFFICE, November 13, 1860.

Respectfully referred to the Adjutant-General for the information of the Secretary of War, with the remark that I am not aware by what authority Colonel Gardner undertook to give such an order.

H. K. CRAIG,

Colonel of Ordnance.

WASHINGTON, D. C., November 11, 1860.

Colonel S. COOPER,

Adjutant-General, Washington City:

SIR: In compliance with instructions from the Secretary of War of the 6th instant, I inspected the fortifications and troops in Charleston Harbor, and have now the honor to report as follows:

FORT MOULTRIE.

This post is garrisoned by Companies E and H, First Artillery, and the regimental band is quartered there.

State of the command.

Field and staff.-Bvt. Colonel John L. Gardner, lieutenant-colonel First Artillery, commanding; Asst. Surg. Samuel W. Crawford, medical department.

Company officers.-Captain Miner Knowlon, Company H, absent sick since August 1, 1850; Captain Abner Doubleday, commanding Company E; Bvt. Captain Truman Seymour, first lieutenant, commanding Company H; First Lieutenant Otis H. Tillinghast, regimental quartermaster, and acting adjutant at regimental headquarters, absent since May 29, 1860; First Lieutenant Theodore Talbot, Company H; First Lieutenant Jefferson C. Davis, Company E; Second Lieutenant Samuel Breck, Company E, on duty at the Military Academy since September 13, 1860; Second Lieutenant Norman J. Hall, Company H, acting assistant quartermaster and acting assistant commissary of subsistence since September 1, 1860, and post adjutant.

Enlisted men.-Band and staff, 9 musicians, 1 hospital steward, 1 ordnance sergeant absent.

Companies E and H, for duty, 36; on extra or daily duty, 12; sick, 4; in arrest or confinement, 11; absent in confinement, 2. Total, 64. Present at inspection, 30; artillery drill, 21; infantry drill, 23; comprising all who, in the opinion of the commanding officer, could with propriety and safety be taken from other duties.

The officers-Lieutenant Talbot in delicate health excepted-are in good health, and capable of enduring the fatigues incident to any duty that may be demanded of them. They are sober, intelligent, and active, and appear acquainted with their general duties, perform them with some exceptions punctually and promptly, and all are anxious to give the commanding officer the aid to which he is entitled.

The non-commissioned officers and privates appear intelligent and obedient, but not move with an alacrity and spirit indicating the existence of a strict discipline.

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A portion of the work, interior and exterior, is necessarily encumbered by material being used in repairing parapets, beds for guns, and arranging