The officer under whose supervision it is to be established you will order to report here at once. The general directs you to send 3 men here as soon as you can, to take a dispatch through to Cumberland Gap.

I have the honor to be, very respectfully, your obedient servant,

GEO. B. DRAKE,

Assistant Adjutant-General.

U. S. GUNBOAT HASTINGS,

Devall's Bluff, White River, September 11, 1863.

Major General U. S. GRANT, U. S. Army,

Comdg. Army of the Tennessee, &c., Vicksburg;

GENERAL: A dispatch reached me to-day announcing the capture of Little Rock and the retreat of the enemy, pursued by Davidson's cavalry force.

I have forwarded General Steele's dispatches to the Government by the gunboat, taking this to the mouth of this river, and have thought this information might be of sufficient importance in the operations in Red River to justify sending down a bearer of the news to the admiral, as well as this letter to you. There appears to have been no severe fighting, if any. The dispatch of the assistant adjutant-general is brief.

I am, general, your obedient servant,

S. L. PHELPS,

Lieutenant Comdr., Comdg. 6th and 7th Divs., Miss. Squadron.

SPECIAL ORDERS, HDQRS. SIXTEENTH ARMY CORPS,

Numbers 219. Memphis, Tenn., September 11, 1863.

General ASBOTH:

General Grant prefers not to raise the question of the oath of allegiance now. Indeed, he will not permit any one in Mississippi to take it. Provisions are issued as a pure charity to prevent suffering just as we would to the Indians on the frontier or to shipwrecked people. As representatives of the United States we cannot permit people to perish for want of food if we have any, and the fewer conditions imposed the purer the charity; only satisfy yourself that the people are in real want and cannot afford to buy. Send contrabands to provost-marshal in Vicksburg.

W. T. SHERMAN,

Major-General.