HEADQUARTERS DISTRICT OF WEST TENNESSEE,
Memphis, Tenn., July 20, 1864.

Major General A. J. SMITH,

La Grange, Tenn.:

You will remove your infantry by rail to Memphis as rapidly as transportation can be furnished, and your artillery and wagon train in, with an escort of cavalry, by easy marches. General Hatch will remain at La Grange until your command is entirely removed from there.

C. C. WASHBURN,

Major- General.

NATCHEZ, MISS., July 20, 1864.

Major C. T. CHRISTENSEN,

Asst. Adjt. General, Military DIVISION of WEST Mississippi:

Arriving here on the evening of the 11th instant, I immediately proceeded to the performance of the duty assigned me, and commenced by examining the lines of fortifications by which the place is guarded, and which were constructed under the orders of the engineer officer attached to headquarters, superior to the commander of this post.

It is my opinion that it was an error to waste the large force of troops which have heretofore been kept for the occupation of this place. The garrison is smaller now than it has been previously, but were it not that such large works had been constructed here it ought to be still further decreased and the surplus troops sent into the field. I do not appreciate the necessity of our holding Natchez by military occupation then the whole garrison of 5,000 is wasted. If it is necessary, such a small fort should have been constructed as would have commanded the town from directions where gun- boats could not reach, and at the same time preserved its communication with the water, and should have been built compactly and strongly, and been calculated for a garrison not to exceed 1,500 men. The works which have been constructed cover a great deal of ground; have destroyed large amounts of valuable improved property, and cannot be securely and properly manned by less than 10,000 men. It is not at all probable a sufficient force of the enemy could assault this place so as to make it necessary to hold the works with a full garrison. If it were, the only alternative would be to increase the garrison or to demolish the works so that an enemy could not occupy them, and then construct such as are suitable for a small garrison. There is an interior work which of itself is large enough for 1,500 men, if assailed, and which might be sufficient for the holding of the place if the outer and very exterior works, on which great labor and expense have been lavished, were leveled. With the force I propose leaving here I believe the bastions of the outer works can be held against such force as would probably be brought against them, and if forced the garrison could withstand a siege and make successful sorties from the inner work. The effective force now here is about 5,000, or which about 1,850 are white. The latter are the Twenty- eight and Twenty- ninth Illinois Infantry, the Fourth Illinois Cavalry, and Battery K, Second Illinois Artillery. The colored troops are the Sixth U. S. Heavy Artillery (Colored), the FIFTY- eighth U. S. Infantry (Colored), nine companies of the Sixty- THIRD and Sixty- fourth U. S. Infantry (Colored), two companies of the Seventieth U. S. Infantry (Colored), and seven companies of the Seventy- first U. S. Infantry (Colored). I in-