HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF THE SOUTH,
In the Field, Morris Island, S. C., August 4, 1863.

SIR: I have to report no change in the condition of affair he, excepting that due to the regular and uninterrupted progress of our operations against Forts Sumter and Wagner.

By the time the 300-pounder, platform, and ammunition arrive, I shall be ready with my batteries against Fort Sumter, and shall then have, at distance varying between 3,300 yards and 4,250 yards, the following named pieces, viz:

One 300-pounder, weight of projectile 250 pounds; seven 200-pounders, wight of projectile 150 pounds; nine 100-pounders, wight of projectile 80 pounds; two Whitworth guns, weight of projectile 80 pounds, and 300 rounds of ammunition per gun in the batteries, and as much more in reserve and due from the north.

Three brigades of re-enforcements from Major-General Foster's command, amounting in the aggregate to 3,200 white and 2,000 colored troops, are now arriving. They will set me up at once.

I hope to be able to open my batteries on Fort Sumter in seven or eight days, and shall in the meantime gradually push forward my approaches toward Fort Wagner.

It gratifies me to able to state that my command is in excellent sprites throughout the whole department.

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

Q. A. GILLMORE,

Brigadier-General, Commanding.

Major General H. W. HALLECK,

General-in-Chief, U. S. Army, Washington, D. C.

P. S.-There has been but one casualty within the last three days, although yesterday the firing from Sumter, Wagner, Cumming's Point, and the batteries near Fort Johnson, was very brisk for several hours.

HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF THE SOUTH,
In the Field, Morris Island, S. C., August 28, 1863.

GENERAL: I have the report a slow but steady progress in our operations against Fort Wagner, although its reduction is no longer deemed essential to the successful prosecution of the naval operations since the fire of Fort Sumter is silenced.

The narrow neck of land in front of Fort Wagner being only 20 yards wide and 2 feet deep at high tide, our progress is necessarily slow. The enemy's development is many times greater than ours. On the 26th, the Twenty-fourth Massachusetts carried by assault a bold sand ridge which had been most persistently held by the enemy. We lost 8 in killed, wounded, and missing, and took 70 prisoners, including 2 officers. The enemy sustained additional loss in killed and wounded, which I am unable to report accurately.

The prisoners report that the space between the ridge and Fort Wagner is filled with formidable torpedoes. We have already encountered eight in our trenches beyond the ridge.