HEADQUARTERS SEVENTEENTH ARMY CORPS,
Pocotaligo, S. C., January 17, 1865.

Captain S. L. TAGGART,

Asst. Adjt. General, Department and Army of the Tennessee:

CAPTAIN: Lieutenant McQueen has returned, and reports that he met Colonel Gage, with the Twenty-ninth Missouri and Seventh Illinois Mounted Infantry, at New River bridge, about ten miles from Savannah, and that the bridge was destroyed so that he could not cross. Colonel Gage reports that a portion of the Twentieth Corps were in camp about five miles side of Savannah, and that they had orders to move at 8 o'clock this a.m., but had not moved when he left them. Two divisions of the Fifteenth Army Corps were ordered to move by the same route, but had not yet started. They had heard of the taking of Pocotaligo through General Howard's dispatch. The bridges on the road from Grahamville to New River bridge are all destroyed. Lieutenant McQueen reports that General Hatch's command are destroying the railroad.

I forward a note received from Colonel Gage.

Very respectfully, your obedient servant,

FRANK P. BLAIR, JR.,

Major-General.

[Inclosure.]

HDQRS. TWENTY-NINTH MISSOURI VOLUNTEERS MOUNTED,
New River Bridge.

Major-General BLAIR:

GENERAL: I have the honor to report that I met the bearer at the New River bridge. I have a command of all the detachments of mounted men from the Fifteenth Army Corps. This is the only bridge of any importance on the road. It has been burned, but I shall be able to cross by 2 p.m. January 17, 1865.

Respectfully, your obedient servant,

JOS. S. GAGE.

HEADQUARTERS SEVENTEENTH ARMY CORPS,
Pocotaligo, S. C., January 17, 1865.

Captain S. L. TAGGART,

Asst. Adjt. General, Department and Army of the Tennessee:

CAPTAIN: I have the honor to make the following report of my attempt to open communication with General Slocum via ROBERTSVILLE: Captain William Henley, of my staff, started yesterday morning with about seventy-fiver mounted men on the Coosawhatchie road reaching a point about six miles beyond Gillisonville. He found there a strong force of Artillery and cavalry and was obliged to return to Coosawhatchie, capturing, however, a lieutenant, a surgeon, and ten men of the enemy. He then went, via Grahamville and Bradham's, to within eight miles of Robertsville, where he found the enemy's pickets. He had captured a man of the Third South Carolina Cavalry at Bradham's, who reported that one division of Wheeler's cavalry and Kanapaux's battery of seven pieces were at Robertsville. The people along the road confirmed this statement. He was, therefore, obliged to return. Citizens on the road report our force at Purysville and Harrisonville, on the Savannah River. Wheeler's command left Grahamville,