them. It became necessary to make casings in the pits to exclude the water, but I succeeded, just before the evacuation, in having two 8-inch columbiads and two 10-inch mortars completed and the model for 10-inch columbiads was ready.

Learing by accident in the early part of March that Pensacola was to be abandoned, I renewed my application to the War Department for some of the columbiads and mortars, of which there was a large number there. I telegraphed Mr. Benjamin, Secretary of War, March 7, 1862, as follows: "In case of evacuation of points now fortified, please order 10-inch guns and mortars here." To this telegram I received no reply. On March 15 I telegraphed to Major General S. Jones, commanding at Mobile, to send me 10-inch mortars, and also wrote on the 21st. (See letter marked document Numbers 14) Receiving no answer, I telegraphed the Secretary of War, requesting him to order General Jones to send the columbiads and mortars promptly; to which he replied by telegraph that he had ordered them to be sent as requested. On the 29th I telegraphed the Secretary of War, telegraphed me on March 29 to know what guns I meant,whether guns in battery or guns on the way to me. I replied, "A part of the 10-inch columbiads and sea-coast mortars which were at Pensacola;" that New Orleans had only one of the former and none of the latter. On April 4 the Secretary of War telegraphed me that he had endeavored to get them Pensacola columbiads an sea-coast mortars, but found that all had been sent to Mobile that could be spared. Finding I could not obtain guns by authority, I sent Major Duncan, an energetic officer, to get possession of as many guns of that caliber as he could and to bring them through unless stopped by some superior officer. Major Duncan is now dead. He reported to me that General Jones, at Mobile, would let me have two 10-inch guns if he were in command, but that he had been ordered away; that he telegraphed General Bragg, who replied that the commanding officer was authorized to give the guns if he thought proper, but that they regarded the points above Memphis as the best for the defense of New Orleans. The commanding officer at Mobile refused to give them. Major Duncan then went to Pensacola and took three guns, which he brought to New Orleans. I also telegraphed and wrote to General Beauregard to request General Bragg to order me the guns. (See letters hereunto appended, marked documents Nos. 15, 16, and 17.) I borrowed some guns from Commander Whittle inthe latter par of March, which were intended for the iron-clads Louisiana and Mississippi in the latter part of March, which were intended for the iron-clads Louisiana and Mississippi, and on April 4 suggested that the remaining guns of the Louisiana beset to Fort Jackson, as I feared that vessel would not already in time for the fight. On the 11th the commodore demanded the return of the guns against which I protested. (See letters on these points hereunto appended, marked documents Numbers 18, 19, 20, 21, and 22.) I urged the completion of the Louisiana and Mississippi upon Commander Whittle; but he replied that they were not under his control, the contracts being made independent of his order by the Secretary of the Navy.

I sent a regiment of troops, under Colonel Szymanski, to the quarantine to prevent an approach to the river bank above Fort Saint Philip by the enemy; but the unprecedented high water dislodged the troops, who were removed to the west bank where they wee located until they were captured by the enemy's fleet. Sharpshooters were also organized by my orders for service on the banks of the river below the forts. Obtaining a few heavy guns from Pensacola, I got 120 negroes from the planters on the river and sent them to General Duncan for mounting those guns in an additional water battery outside of fort Jackson. General Duncan, lately promoted, had been placed by me in command of all the works of the exterior lines and made his headquarters at Fort Jackson. I also sen to General Beauregard for the ram Manassas which he finally sent down, and she took part in the battle of the 24th.

Commodore Hillins came down in April with the McRae, and, after consultation with Commander Whittle, I telegraphed the Secretary of War, on April 17, to try and have Hollins put in command afloat below until he could strike a blow. (See document Numbers 23, hereunto appended.) This, however, was not done. The water meanwhile had risen in the river to an extraordinary height. Places heretofore free from overflow were entirely submerged,a nd the water was nearly 2 feet deep even in Fort Jackson. For miles above the forts the rive formed one vast sheet of water in connection with the Gault of Mexico, and nearer the city, where the banks are leveled, the surface of the river was not less than 8 or 9 feet above the level of the land adjacent. Major M. L. Smith, whose promotion I had urged for some time, was promoted a brigadier-general in April, an assigned by me to the command of the interior line. Ten 32-pounders, smooth bore, and two 8-inch columbiads, just finished in New Orleans, were mounted at the interior line where it abuts upon the river below the city (half the guns of each side), and they were provided with seventy rounds of ammunition per gun.

On April 20, Commander Whittle informed me that the Louisiana, although not entirely ready with her motive power, would go down at once to the forts, but the could get no powder for the guns, except the 3,000 pounds which I had already turned