HDQRS. MILITARY DIVISION OF WEST MISSISSIPPI,
New Orleans, March 4, 1865.

Rear-Admiral S. P. LEE,

Commanding Mississippi Squadron:

ADMIRAL: I have just learned that there are several mortar-boats in your fleet that are probably not needed. They may be of essential service to us if the operations at Mobile are at all protracted, and I have the honor to request that you will send to this city as many (four or five) of them as are not required by you. They will be used simply for the army mortar batteries, and will require no men for the service of the mortars.

Very respectfully, your obedient servant,

E. R. S. CANBY,

Major-General, Commanding.

HDQRS. MILITARY DIVISION OF WEST MISSISSIPPI,
OFFICE OF THE CHIEF SIGNAL OFFICER,

New Orleans, La., March 4, 1865.

Lieutenant Colonel C. T. CHRISTENSEN,

Asst. Adjt. General, Military Division of West Mississippi:

COLONEL: I have the honor to submit to your consideration the following report of information received at this office this 4th day of March, 1865. E. A. Peyton makes the following statement in regard to the resources of Mississippi and East Louisiana:

There is now enough corn, pease, potatoes, &c., to subsist at least 10,000 cavalry until the crop now being planted matures. The Government supplies are stored at the principal stations on the New Orleans, Jackson and Great Northern Railroad and Southern road running east. The principal depots are Summit, Brookhaven, Hazlehurst, Jackson, Canton, and Grenada. This road runs about fifty miles east of the Mississippi River and parallel with it. The principal depots on the Southern road are Brandon, Lake, and Meridian, where the Mobile and Ohio Railroad crosses. There are thousands of bales of cotton, both public and private, in this State. The section of country lying on the river and twenty-five miles east is not included in this report. Some loyal men own cotton in this district. The State is divided into three military districts, Northern, Central, and Southern, commanded by Brigadier-Generals Chalmers, Adams, and Hodge. Major-General Martin at Jackson, Miss., and General Forrest at Macon, the present State capital. The headquarters of districts are Grenada, Jackson, and Liberty. Their effective force is about 6,000 divided equally between the commanders. The State has some 5,000 or 6,000 militia scattered over the State, commanded by Brigadier-General Brandon, headquarters, at Enterprise. All the effective or reliable force is now in the field, with a growing sentiment of dissatisfaction at the leaders of the rebellion. A deserter from the Sixteenth Louisiana Infantry, now at Mobile, who left Washington Parish, La., February 27, reports the Third Louisiana Cavalry, Colonel Amacker, conscripting in that parish, and that they number about 200 or 300. He reports that they are moving all the troops possible to Mobile. Another deserter from the same parish estimates the strength of the Third Louisiana Cavalry at 600 or 700. A report from Major-General Washburn, dated February 5, states that all the Mississippi, Tennessee, and Arkansas troops of Hood's army were being furloughed; those from Mississippi and Tennessee for fifteen and those from Arkansas for sixty days. About 600 of these furloughed men came on the cars from Meridian to Jackson about the 1st of February, declaring that they would not return. Another report from General Washburn, dated February 22, states that six large launches, each armed with a 12-pounder howitzer and manned by fifteen men, were brought from Mobile to Jackson, Miss., and three of them were thought to have been sent across to the Yazoo River. General Washburn thinks they are designed to operate against transports. Captain Whybark reports from Salem, Mo., under date of February 18, that Colonel Freeman was conscripting near Batesville, Ark. It was rumored that he was going south with his force, which numbers about 800, with no artillery, but plenty of ammunition for small guns.