[Inclosure No. 2.]

HEADQUARTERS FIRST LOUISIANA VOLUNTEERS,
Donaldsonville, January 5, 1863.

LieutenantCol. RICHARD B. IRWIN,

Asst. Adjt. General, Department of the Gulf:

SIR: I have to report that Major Bogart, of the One hundred and sixty-second New York Volunteers, arrived here yesterday morning with a detachment of the One hundred and sixty-second, which had been stationed at Plaquemine, he having evacuated the place the evening previous. He left for New Orleans in the afternoon with his command.

A re-enforcement which had been sent to Major Bogart from Baton Rouge on the 3rd instant arrived at Plaquemine on the afternoon of that day, but finding no gunboats there, concluded that all was not right, and came on down here and reported to Major Bogart, who ordered the force of 200 men to return to Baton Rouge by first conveyance.

Captain Ransom, of the gunboat, went up to Plaquemine yesterday afternoon to recover 25,000 cartridges which Major Bogart left behind, which he succeeded in doing without any trouble.

The citizens reported to Captain Ransom that the enemy were not in force on the Grosse Tete (which agrees with my information), and that on the evening of the 3rd, when Major Bogart supposed that he was attacked, the enemy was not nearer than 9 miles.

I was upon the point of sending the detachment from the Fifty-second Massachusetts back to Plaquemine when Lieutenant-Colonel Storrs, from Baton Rouge, came down with orders from General Grover to go back and occupy the place.

Lieutenant Krause, of this regiment, has just returned from a scout in the country bordering on the Manchac, New River, and the Amite River. He succeeded in breaking up a small camp of guerrillas near Civic's Landing, on the Amite. The country between this place and Baton Rouge and the Mississippi and Amite Rivers is clear of guerrillas. He brought in 15 rebel soldiers, some of whom are on furlough and some deserters.

I will report immediately with regard to the depredations said to have been committed by men of Lieutenant Krause's command at Dr. Pritchard's, which I have no doubt will be satisfactory to General Banks. Though the men of this regiment are not so careful about stepping on the toes of rebels as some others, yet I think that it is as free from the charge of plunder as any other in the department. I believe discipline and subordination to be the first requisite of the soldier, and when indiscriminate pillage and unauthorized acts of plunder are permitted discipline cannot exist.

Respectfully, yours,

R. E. HOLCOMB,

Commanding First Louisiana Volunteers.

HEADQUARTERS DIVISION,
Baton Rouge, January 8, 1863.

ASSISTANT ADJUTANT-GENERAL,

Headquarters Department of the Gulf, New Orleans:

SIR: I have the honor to state that I communicated to you some days ago that Major Bogart, of the One hundred and sixty-second New York