No. 3. Report of Mr. W. S. Long, Engineer Department, U. S. Army.

ENGINEER OFFICE, January 17, 1863.

LieutenantCol. RICHARD B. IRWIN,

Assistant Adjutant-General:

SIR: I submit herewith the report of my assistant, Mr. W. S. Long, who accompanied the Forty-second Regiment Massachusetts Volunteers to Galveston and was present during the engagement on the morning of January 1, 1863.

Accompanying the report is a map of the city and surroundings and a sketch of the barricade constructed by our troops on the wharf.* This barricade undoubtedly saved the lives of several of our men.

Very respectfully, your obedient servant,

D. C. HOUSTON,

Major and Aide-de-Camp, Chief Engineer.

[Inclosure.]

NEW ORLEANS, LA., January 10, 1863.

Major D. C. HOUSTON,

Chief Engineer, Department of the Gulf:

SIR: I have the honor to submit the following account of the attack on the United States forces at Galveston, Tex., on the morning of the 1st of January, 1863:

The troops sent from New Orleans, consisting of three companies [I], G, and I] of the Forty-second Massachusetts Volunteers, commanded by Col. I. S. Burrell, landed on Kuhn's Wharf on the 25th of December. It had been intended to land on Pelican Spit, where there are United States barracks, but Commanders Renshaw, Wainwright, and Law, U. S. Navy, strongly advised Colonel Burrell to occupy the wharf, as the best place, where his men could be under the protection of the gunboats.

Patrols were sent through the city by day; pickets were posted at the corners of the main streets, and a lookout kept from the cupola of Hendley's building, which commanded a view of the whole city and suburbs. At night, however, the pickets were drawn in near the head of the wharf.

A barricade was made across the head of the wharf and part of the planking torn up.

Four or five refugees, who had been hiding in the town, came to the wharf and remained there at night for protection, and were of much service on account of the information they obtained from time to time of the enemy's movements.

Parties of rebel cavalry used to come into town at night. They generally came along the beach, where they were concealed by the range of sand hills along the Gulf shore, and on reaching the suburbs would separate and go through the city in squads of two or three. Before daylight they would rendezvous at a place called Schmidt's Garden, and return to Eagle Grove the same way they came.

On the 30th December the refugees who staid on the wharf reported that there was a rumor in town that an attack would be made on the troops that night. In order to be prepared, I constructed a second bar-

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*To appear in Atlas.

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