merged since that time. His official bond was forwarded to the Quartermaster-General. He was captured in Morgan's raid and has recently been exchanged. No appointment has been received and it is recommended by General Duke and Lieutenant-Colonel Alston, commanding battalion, that this be sent. H. C. Ellis, acting as assistant commissary of subsistence Ninth Tennessee since the organization of that command and subsequently of First Kentucky Battalion into which that regiment is temporarily merged, is also recommended for appointment by General Duke and Lieutenant-Colonel Alston. You will perceive that many of the appointments in this brigade are, to say the least, very irregular. Officers seem to have been appointed and assigned to duty by persons having no authority whatever, many of them having been acting as such for years, and it is for the Department to decide whether they will be allowed to continue as such. The information to be obtained is very meager. In some instances whole regiments of Morgan's old division are without a single commissioned officer present and the records are very imperfect. I have here furnished you with all the information which could be collected relative to their permanent and temporary organizations, much of the data concerning the former having been given me from memory. The horses in this command were, with few exceptions, unserviceable from scratches, foot-evil, and sore back. They had recently come off a very severe campaign, and had been traveling rapidly over roads in horrible condition and in intensely cold weather. The arms, although not clean, were generally in serviceable condition. About one-fourth of the men need arms an one-third lack accouterments. There were present at the date of my inspection 328 men, and their discipline seemed to be better [than] that of the other commands of the department with the exception of Giltner's brigade, which is about the same, particularly in Duke's own regiment, Second Regiment Kentucky Cavalry, now Fourth Battalion Kentucky Cavalry. On my last visit to the command I found them camped about two miles from Abingdon and going into huts for the winter, their horses having been sent to North Carolina to be foraged. I fully concur in the opinion expressed to me by Brigadier-General Kuke that the interests of the service would be enhanced by removing these troops from this department. Their propinquity to their homes, the nature of the country in which they operate, together with the loose and irregular manner in which they have,until recently, bee managed, renders it exceedingly difficult, if not impossible, to keep them together in camp, recruiting their ranks in Kentucky being usually the pretext for wandering over into that State.

With much respect, I am, sir, your obedient servant,

D. T. CHANDLER,

Assistant Adjutant and Inspector General.

SPECIAL ORDERS,
ADJT. AND INSP. GENERAL'S OFFICE, Numbers 43.
Richmond, February 21, 1865.

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IV. Surg. James B. Cowan is hereby assigned to duty as medical director Forrest's cavalry corps, Army of Tennessee.

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By command of the Secretary of War:

JNO. WITHERS,
Assistant Adjutant-General.