TUSCUMBIA, November 3, 1864.

(Received 4th.)

General S. COOPER,

Adjutant and Inspector General:

Part of the army occupies Florence, but want of supplies and had weather have delayed forward movement, which will be resumed soon as practicable.

G. T. BEAUREGARD,

General.

HEADQUARTERS,
Tuscumbia, November 3, 1864.

Colonel GEORGE WM. BRENT,

Assistant Adjutant -General;

The army will commence the movement into Tennessee on Saturday morning next. I respectfully suggest that Major -General Forrest be informed of the time and certainty of the movement. I had the honor to receive, as few days since, your letter asking for a report of the operations of the army since leaving the WEST Point and Atlanta Railroad, and report that my time has been so much occupied and the condition of my health has been such that I have been unable to prepare it. I will however, send you copies of all my telegrams sent to the Government during the period referred to.

J. B. HOOD,

General.

HEADQUARTERS ARMY OF TENNESSEE,
INSPECTOR -GENERAL'S OFFICE,

November 3, 1864.

General J. B. HOOD,

Commanding Army of Tennessee:

GENERAL: I deem it my duty to lay before you a plan by which I think the efficiency of the inspector -general's department can be greatly increased. I feel that unless some change is made your army will be injured and its movements seriously embarrassed. Let me be understood, general, as not striving to have power wested in my hands. I write this for another and, I hope, purer motive; my object being to increase the efficiency of your army. If the plan is adopted and the system fails, then I will acknowledge myself until for the position I occupy. As the department now stands corps, DIVISION, and brigade inspectors are almost wholly independent of the inspector -general of the army, each general officers having a system, or no system, of his own, with such authority over these officers as renders them incapable of performing the necessary duties pertaining to the department. There is no head, each inspector looking to his immediate commanders for the class of duties he is to perform. When property is captured from the enemy it finds its way into private hands, no one seeming to know or care what becomes of it. Applications are daily bade by officers to purchase public animals, and there is no organized system by which it can be ascertained whether these applications should be granted. Orders are daily issued by the Adjutant -General of the Army, and it is impossible to tell whether they find their way even as far as corps headquarters. Abuse of every nature are being constantly reported, and