On the 9th of May, 1865, a telegraphic communication was received from department headquarters at Nashville directing that the signal detachment serving in East Tennessee be moved down to Chattanooga and there await orders. The detachment remained at Chattanooga until May 19, at which time orders were received for the entire detachment to report at Nashville. On the 29th of May the party that had been on duty with General Wilson's cavalry expedition through Eastern Tennessee, Southwestern Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia, under the immediate command of Lieutenant Theodore Mallaby, jr., Signal Corps. U. S. Army, reported to the chief signal officer at Nashville. For the operations of this party during the months of April and May, I refer you to the very interesting detailed report of Lieutenant Mallaby, jr., inclosed herewith.* From the fact that this party accompanied the last great cavalry expedition of the war, and that Lieutenant Mallaby was selected by General Palmer as the bearer of important dispatches from the War Department to General Wilson, then at Macon, Ga., directing General Wilson to pursue and capture Jefferson Davis, the would-be President of a sham confederacy, which was successfully accomplished in a few days thereafter, it forms an interesting historical link in the chain of important events then transpiring. Lieutenant Mallaby is deserving of great credit for the faithful manner in which he performed the important duties assigned him while serving with this expedition. During the month ending May 31 all acting signal officers on duty in the detachment were relieved and ordered to their respective regiments, in accordance with Special Orders, Numbers 208, paragraph 2, War Department, Adjutant-General's Office, May 3, 1865. The six officers and twenty-one enlisted men on duty with General Sherman were, by direction of the Chief Signal Officer at Washington, under date of May 12, dropped from the rolls of the detachment. May 31 the detachment numbered eight commissioned officers and eighty-five enlisted men present and absent.

About the 1st of June the Fourth Army Corps, Major General D. S. Stanley commanding, was transferred from the Department of the Cumberland to New Orleans, La. Four commissioned officers and twenty-five enlisted men of the Signal Corps were, by order of General Thomas, temporarily detached from my command to accompany the Fourth Army Corps. This party, under the immediate charge of Lieutenant Jehu L. Hollopeter, Signal Corps, U. S. Army, was fully equipped with everything necessary for active field operations. A special report of the organization of this party was made to the Chief Signal Officer at Washington, under date of June 26, 1865. On the 30th of June, Thirty-two enlisted men of the detachment were discharged the service in accordance with Special Orders, Numbers 315, paragraph 12, War Department, Adjutant-General's Office, June 19, 1865. At this date, June 30, 1865, the effective force of the detachment was four commissioned officers and twenty-five enlisted men. During the months of June, July, and August, I have no operations to report, as there was no occasion for the services of the detachment in the field. Active operations had ceased, the war was over, and a large portion of the troops composing the department were being mustered out of the service, as they were no longer required. The order directing the discharge of all officers and men of the detachment, issued under the provisions of Special Orders, Numbers 417, paragraph 5, War Department, Adjutant-General's Office, August 3, 1865, was received at headquarters of the detachment

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*See Part I, p. 326.

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