that an experienced engineer officer be ordered ot duty here. The engineer I now have (a private form the Rebel Troop) is not competent for the work on hand.

Again regretting this disagreeable annoyance, and with my best whites, I remain, most truly, yours,

B. H. ROBERTSON.

HEADQUARTERS FIRST MILITARY DISTRICT, Mount Pleasant, S. C., December 18, 1863.

Brigadier-General JORDAN,
Chief of Staff, &c.:

GENERAL: I have the honor to report that the double-banded and rifled a 10-inch gun was fired on the 16th instant, from Battery Bee, with the following results:

Number. Elevati Charge, Weight Recoil. Range. Remarks

on. large of .

grain. bolt.

o Pounds Pounds Yards.

1 1 1\2 14 225 4 feet 1,100 Ricoche

1 3\4 t fair;

inches. in

. three

2 5 15 225 4 feet 1,740 E. c.

6 1\2 range,

inches.

.

3 2 16 240 5 feet 1,250 2,500;

4 1\2 in two

inches.

.

4 3 16 235 5 feet 1,300 E. c.

4 3\4 range,

inches.

.

5 4 16 232 4 feet 1,800 2,000.

8 1\2

inches.

.

The condition of the gun, carriage, and chassis is apparently as good as before it was fired. The projectiles took the grooves in every instance, and the line of fire before ricochet was accurate. The ranges were estimated form Mount Pleasant. The differences I attribute to errors in taking elevations with plummet quadrant, to unequal weights, and, in some instances, unequal lengths of the shot, which should be avoided of the future. The projectiles were all flat-headed bolts, which, of course, would not permit so good a range as with the pointed. The time of flight could not be determined for want of a stop-watch, but the velocity appeared ot be fully equal to that of the round ball. The experiments I conceived to be sufficient to demonstrate the efficiency of the gun in its present position.

Very respectfully, your obedient servant,

R. S. RIPLEY,

Brigadier-General, Commanding.

SPECIAL ORDERS,
HDQRS. DEPT. S. C., GA., AND FLA., Numbers 277.
Charleston, S. C., December 18, 1863.

* * * * * * * *

VIII. The expedition organized by Special Ordes, Numbers 276, of these headquarters, will be placed under the general command of Colonel P. R. Page, Twenty-sixth Regiment Virginia Volunteers, Lieutenant-Colonel Kemper, to have command of the artillery.

* * * * * * *

By command of General Beauregard:

JNO. M. OTEY,
Assistant Adjutant-General.