PART II.-VOL XXVIII.

CORRESPONDENCE, ORDERS, AND RETURNS RELATING TO OPERATIONS ON THE COASTS OF SOUTH CAROLINA AND GEORGIA, AND IN MIDDLE AND EAST FLORIDA, FROM JUNE 12 TO DECEMBER 31, 1863.

UNION CORRESPONDENCE, ETC.

GENERAL ORDERS,
HDQRS. DEPT. OF THE SOUTH, Numbers 46.
Hilton Head, Port Royal, S. C., July 12, 1863.

Major General David Hunter, commanding Department of the South, hereby announces that he has been temporarily relieved from command of the department, and ordered to report to the Adjutant-General, U. S. Army, for special service, and that Brigadier General Q. A. Gillmore has been assigned by the President to the command of the Department of the South.

In turning over command to his successor, Major-General Hunter congratulates the troops of the department that in General Gillmore they will find an officer well known to them, and whose worth they have long since learned to estimate; and it is the earnest hope of General Hunter that the same skill, perseverance, and gallantry, which so largely contributed to the reduction of Fort Pulaski, more than a year ago, may be equally successful in whatever enterprises General Gillmore shall next be engaged in.

By command of Major General D. Hunter:

CHAS G. HALPINE,

Lieutenant Colonel A. A. G. 10th Army Corps and Dept. of the South.

GENERAL ORDERS,
HDQRS. DEPT. OF THE SOUTH, Numbers 47.
Hilton Head, Port Royal, S. C., June 12, 1863.

I. By direction of the President, as announced in special orders from the headquarters of the Army, dated Washington, June 3, 1863, the undersigned hereby assumes command of the Department of the South.

II. All orders and regulations established by Major-General Hunter, and now in operation, will remain in full force until otherwise ordered.

Q. A. GILLMORE,

Brigadier-General, Commanding.