it be granted, under such rules and regulations as may secure all possible interests of the United States.

Their personal property, as cotton, sugar, and molasses, inasmuch as it may be disposed of and the United States lose any claim it has thereupon, must be held subject to a different rule, and under the provisions of this order cannot be surrendered to claimants except upon decision of the Government at Washington or of the provisional court.

Whenever the value of the estate or the possession of other species of property is dependent upon the working of the state, so much of the personal property or product of the estate as may be necessary for that purpose may be surrendered to the claimants, subject to the decision of the Government in regard to the question of the final possession and ownership.

The amount so surrendered shall be secured by a lieu upon the year's crop to that amount, so that all future interests of the Government in the property may be protected.

Upon the question of loyalty, the oath of allegiance is only one of the incidents to be considered in determining the question of loyalty or disloyalty, and judgment should be formed upon this subject on full consideration of all the circumstances connected with the case and the person.

I have the honor to be, with much respect, your most obedient servant,

N. P. BANKS,

Major-General, Commanding.

HEADQUARTERS TROOPS IN WEST FLORIDAN,
Barrancas, Fla., April 2, 1863.

LieutenantCol. RICHARD B. IRWIN,

Assistant Adjutant-General:

SIR: I have the honor to submit the following report of the evacuation of the city of Pensacola, Fla., by the troops under my command and of the circumstances attending it:

Immediately on the receipt, on Sunday, 15th instant, by the steamer Eastern Queen, of instructions transmitted from Headquarters Department of the Gulf, Baton Rouge, March 12, 1863, by telegraph to New Orleans, I proceeded to take the necessary measures to put the same into immediate execution.

I am sorry to say that I found it more difficult to execute the order than I at first had supposed, owing to the peculiar circumstances in which the inhabitants were placed. The population was principally composed of persons who had remained there on the evacuation of it by the Confederates and who had preferred to remain at that time, and of others who had come in from the adjacent country for protection from the enemy and to avoid conscription, and were all, or nearly all, of loyal sentiments, and the idea of again falling into the power of the enemy was so repugnant to them that they entreated to be allowed to follow and remain under the protection of the troops at Barrancas or the navy-yard, although they were well aware that numbers of them would there be without sufficient shelter. Their number I estimate at 1,000 to 1,200, a large portion of whom were either directly or indirectly dependent on the United States Government for subsistence; consequently, when the troops, stores, and sutlers would be withdrawn, there would remain for them no means of living there at all. Gunboats can