Organization of troops in the District of the Gulf, commanded by Major General Dabney H. Maury, June 30, 1864.

Page's Brigade.

Brigadier General RICHARD L. Page .

21st Alabama, Colonel Charles D. Anderson.

15th Confederate and 7th Alabama Cavalry, Lieutenant Colonel Turner Clanton, Jr.

1st Alabama Battalion Artillery, Lieutenant Colonel Robert C. Forsyth.

1st Tennessee Heavy Artillery, Captain H. T. Norman.

Patton's Brigade.

Colonel ISAAC W. PATTON.

22nd Louisiana, -- --

15th Confederate Cavalry, Colonel Henry Maury.

Tobin's (Tennessee) battery, Captain Thomas F. Tobin.

Higgins' Battery.

1st Louisiana Artillery, Major Henry A. Clinch.

1st MISSISSIPPI Artillery, Captain J. L. Bradford.

3rd Missouri Battery, Lieutenant Thomas B. Catron.

Bay Batteries, Colonel William E. Burnet.

Local Defense Corps, -- --.

Alabama (State) Artillery, Commanding D, Captain William H. Homer.

Detached Commands.

7th Alabama Cavalry, Colonel Joseph Hodgson.

Company Engineer Troops, Captain L. Hutchinson.

HDQRS. DETACHMENT OF WESTERN VA. AND EAST TENN., Abingdon, Va., July 1, 1864.

General S. COOPER,

Adjutant and Inspector General, Richmond, Va.:

GENERAL: I would respectfully ask information upon the following statement:

There are a great many straggling cavalrymen belonging to the different organizations of the department who are hiding in the mountains, committing depredations upon private property, and are of no benefits, committing depredations upon private property, and are of no benefit to the service whatever in their present capacity. The outrages committed by these worthless characters are the source of nearly all the complaints on the part of citizens the troops in the department. They have been, and are still being arraigned before the military court for their offenses, and in many cases the severest punishments have been administered to them. Punishment, however, does not seem to do any good, for as soon as they are released, they straggle from their commands again and repeat the improprieties for which they have just been corrected. I desire to know whether there is not some manner in which these men can be dismounted and sent off, to be assigned to an infantry command, say in the Army of Northern Virginia. If the authority could be delegated to me to dispose of such cases in the manner indicated it would be highly beneficial to the service in this quarter. From observation, I know there is no punishment more dreaded by a cavalryman than being dismounted and transferred to the infantry. There are a great many who are utterly worthless as cavalrymen, and who might be made good soldiers if they could be brought under the rigid discipline of an infantry command in a large army. If they continue here in their present status, the country is taxed for their substance and receives ver by their service. Besides, the example of these men is so baneful, I feel safe in saying, that three-fourths of the irregularities now perpetrated by the troops of the dif-