ward in the morning. The battery belonging to the brigade can also go forward in the morning. I send two regiments of cavalry, that will precede your brigade. Send the brigade that is in rear, as your advanced brigade can picket beyond Abbeville.

A. J. SMITH,

Major-General.

GENERAL ORDERS,
HDQRS. DISTRICT OF Vicksburg, Numbers 25.
Vicksburg, Miss., August 20, 1864.

I. The enrollment of the militia of this district, as directed in General Orders, Numbers 31, headquarters Military DIVISION of WEST Mississippi, will immediately be made.

II. The provost-marshal of the post of Vicksburg is announced as the enrolling officer for the post, and will at once proceed to fulfill the terms of the above order.

III. A special commission, composed of Surg. E. Powell, Seventy- second Illinois Infantry; Captain William B. Holbrook, Seventy- second Illinois Infantry; Captain S. Bostwick, Eleventh Illinois Infantry, is hereby constituted to hear and determine all claims for exemption from military service on account of alienage, physical disability, being a rebel deserter, &c. and will determine in which battalion persons will be enrolled, whether for field service, garrison duty, or constabulary force.

IV. All male persons, including all employees of the Government, between the ages of eighteen and forty-five years will immediately report to the enrolling officer for enrollment or exemption. After August 30, 1864, any person who has been a resident of the place ten days and who is found without a certificate of enrollment or exemption will be arrested and punished by fine and imprisonment. No pass will be issued to any one liable to militia duty without the production of such certificate. The quartermaster's department will furnish the necessary books and stationery. The commanding officer of the post of Natchez will immediately take measures, if he has not already done so, to carry out the above-named general orders, and will report progress to these headquarters.

By order of Major General N. J. T. Dana:

H. C. RODGERS,

Assistant Adjutant-General.

HEADQUARTERS DISTRICT OF WEST FLORIDA,
Barrancas, August 20, 1864.

Major C. T. CHRISTENSEN,

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

MAJOR: I have the honor to submit, in connection with my report of August 12, Numbers 846, the following additional information received from refugees and deserters: There is a force of from 8,000 to 9,000 men at Mobile, mostly conscripts, boys and old men, enlisted and armed as infantry, but ordered for duty on the fortifications around the city as heavy artillery. They are constructing new obstructions in Mobile Bay, starting at the lower part of the city above Choctaw Point and bringing them in half circle up to the mouth of the Tensas River, placing new batteries behind them in the marshy ground. They have also two new batteries above the forking of the Appalachee and Blakely