gave the necessary information on the ground, and at 5.30 p. m. the fire had been checked and was being gradually forced back. Explosions of shell still continued. Captain Owen, acting quartermaster, has lost all his stores; forage burnt. Some horses and mules are reported to have broken loose and are saved. Of the immediate cause of the explosion there are none to tell. Captain Beebe's employes in charge of the stores state that ammunition was being transferred from the railroad to the warehouse by a detail of colored troops. A lieutenant commanding the squad at the warehouse, and having more men than he could use at the time, allowed the idle men to lounge in the warehouse about the ammunition. He was admonished of the danger, but to no purpose. The employe then procured an order from the captain of the company for the lieutenant to send him twenty men, the surplus, and upon returning found the lieutenant absent and the men still more reckless. On leaving the warehouse the lieutenant was found on board the steamer Kate Dale and the order delivered. The employe then left, and when two or three blocks off the explosion occurred. The report that it is the work of an incendiary receives little credit. It is reported that paroled prisoners quartered near have suffered severely. The fire appears [to] extend over about two acres and a half and there are about six acres of ruined buildings. The whole northeast quarter of the city has a dilapidated appearance. The windows and ceiling of the custom-house shattered. Killed and wounded probably 500, which, with the severe loss of property to the army, cannot yet be estimated properly. All officers are actively engaged. The ruins are covered with dense smoke. I send map inclosed.*

I am, colonel, very respectfully, your obedient servant,

JAS. G. PATTON,

Captain and Acting Assistant Inspector-General.

Lieutenant Colonel C. T. CHRISTENSEN,

Assistant Adjutant-General.

MAY 31-JUNE 6, 1865.-Expedition from Barrancas to Apolachicola, Fla.

Report of Brigadier General Alexander Asboth, U. S. Army, commanding District of West Florida.

HEADQUARTERS DISTRICT OF WEST FLORIDA,
Barrancas, June 6, 1865.

COLONEl: I have the honor to report that in compliance with the orders of the major-general commanding I left this place for Apalachicola, Fla., on the 31st instant [ultimo], at 10 a. m., with the U. S. transports Peabody, N. P. Banks, Clyde, Hussar, and Tampico, with the One hundred and sixty-firs New York Infantry and the Eighty-second U. S. Colored Infantry, and thirty mounted men, and supplies for Brevet Major-General Wilson's command, at Macon, Ga., on board, convoyed by the U. S. steamer Itasca, Lieutenant Commander N. Green, commanding, under instructions contained in inclosed, in 1, 2, and 3. I arrived at the Upper Anchor of Apalachicola after a smooth run of twenty-three hours, at 9 a. m. on the 1st instant, and landing with the steamer Tampico, directed that the discharging, of the vessels should commence immediately and continue day and night, in accord

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* Not found.

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