HDQRS. CAVALRY DIVISION, SIXTEENTH ARMY CORPS,
Memphis, Tenn., May 31, 1864.

Colonel D. E. COON,

Commanding THIRD Brigade:

COLONEL: You will in the morning early relieve all the cavalry pickets at this post by detail from your command. They consist of nine men and one non-commissioned officer on each of the following roads: Randolph, New and Old Raleigh, New and Old State Line, Race-Track road, Hernando road, Horn Lake road. You will have a good commissioned officer detailed each day as officer of the day to visit these pickets during the absence of the command, and see that they perform their duties well. The effective mounted force of the Ninth and THIRD Illinois Cavalry have been ordered to accompany the expedition. You can move the camp of the rest of your command and get it in as good condition as possible, in our absence. The order placing you in command of the brigade is issued to-night, dated to-morrow.

By order of Brigadier General B. H. Grierson:

S. L. WOODWARD,

Assistant Adjutant-General.

U. S. GUN-BOAT FAIRY,

Off Memphis, Tenn., May 31, 1864.

His Excellency the PRESIDENT:

SIR: I deem it of importance to report to you the real character of the trade with the enemy which is carried on in the neighborhood of our lines. In the way it has been conducted, immense supplies go to the enemy and help to sustain a hostile population. The removal of restrictions upon trade in Kentucky, Missouri, and WEST Virginia opened an extensive frontier through which the enemy are supplied. The raid of Forrest upon Paducah and Fort Pillow, it is believed, was undertaken in part to enable him to secure large quantities of goods which had been accumulated by arrangement through disloyal agencies, at points within our lines, along his line of march. At Memphis, before the recent suspension of trade by General Washburn, goods to the amount of a half a million a week went through our lines, sold for currency or exchanged for cotton. Boats loaded with supplies have had almost unrestricted opportunities for trade on the Mississippi, and some of its navigable tributaries, stopping anywhere along the river and dealing with anybody. It is intimated that Memphis has heretofore been so reliable and constant a source of rebel supplies as to secure for it a comparative exemption from attack by the enemy. I give you in these statements a summary of what I have learned from loyal citizens of high character and officers of the naval and military service. Admiral Porter, Commander Pattison, commanding officers in the Armies of the Tennessee and Cumberland, Generals Washburn, Prince, and others on the Mississippi, bear concurrent testimony to the same effect. The orders issued recently by General Washburn will arrest the evil in his district, but to be effectual the policy should be general, and not dependent upon the initiative of the local commander. I would respectfully recommend that all trade with persons beyond our lines be interdicted and that commanding officers of squadrons and military districts be held responsibleibition. It may be urged that some loyal people beyond our lines will thereby suffer, but a hundred fold more of the loyal people within our lines suffer in the