During my efforts to supply the troops at Tuscumbia we seriously damaged three of our steamers and were obliged for moths to leave one of them above the Shoals. After the last of our troops had reached Tuscumbia and were provided with about ten day's rations of the essentials only - bread and meat, coffee and sugar - they were moved on without delay. I was then ordered to take all the available transportation of the army, fill the wagons with the essentials of subsistence - by that I mean bread and meat, coffee and sugar - to cross the river at Eastport with them, and proceed to Florence, on the north side of the Tennessee River, in Alabama. Taking about ten days' supplies of bread and meat, coffee and sugar, for the army, I left Eastport, Miss., crossing the Tennessee at that point on or about the 24th of June, 1862, and reached Florence, a distance of about 22 miles, the next day, where I found the columns in motion and crossing the river from Tuscumbia on its march to Huntsville, Northern Alabama.

My efforts to supply the troops from Eastport to Tuscumbia by river were unceasing, running the steamers day and night, and with all my efforts the column moved from Tuscumbia with altogether in the hands of regiments and in the supply trains about fifteen days' rations, and only of the essentials of bread and meat, coffee and sugar. We expected, on our arrival at Athens, Ala., and Huntsville to find abundant supplies for our amy, as orders had been issued to parties in Nashville to have supplies ready for us at least three or four weeks before we moved from Corinth. On arriving at Athens, Ala., to which place I rode ahead of the column, I discovered that no provisions whatever had been accumulated and that no forage either had been gathered. Upon inquiring the cause thereof, as it was a matter of great importance, I found that the railroad, sometimes called the Central Tennessee and Alabama Railroad, but generally called the Decatur and Nashville road, was so badly broken by the rebel raids and bridges burned that it was impossible to more than feed day by day the troops then under charge of General Mitchell, who was occupying Northern alabama at Huntsville and the lines between that and Nashville. Inquiring as to the resources of the country form the inhabitants of the region through which we had passed and around Athens, I discovered that the country was entirely bare of resources along and near our lines of march, both of forage and subsistence, and that on account of the large bodies of guerrillas infesting the country it was dangerous to send out trains for foraging purposes without a larger guard than General Mitchell was able to afford. I came back to camp near Athens and reported the condition of supplies and asked for orders to remedy the evil. General Buell ordered me to make myself thoroughly acquainted as far as was in my power with the resources of the country and to make use of them wherever we could reach them. At the same time he told me to ascertain by what time the railroad would be completed from Nashville to Athens, in order to bring us supplies by rail. The break in the railroad was from Reynolds' Station to Elk river, the bridge over the latter stream being destroyed. The distance by railroad was only 24 miles, but on account of the impossibility of crossing by ford mountain for loaded trains about midway between Elk River and Pulaski Station, I discovered it was necessary for our trains wagoning provisions around this break to make a detour of 40 miles, which going and coming made a trip of 80 miles. The train forded Elk River at the point called Elton, above the burnt bridge.

At the time that we reached Athens railroad repairing was going on, not only on the Decatur and Nashville road but on the Nashville and Chattanooga. I discovered also at Athens a great deal of irregularity in the use of army wagons and of railroad transportation, under the command of General Mitchell, which I have no doubt retarded the progress of getting supplies, by the uses made by quartermasters of this transportation for the purpose of hauling cotton. Immediately after the arrival of General Buell at Huntsville, which was next day after we reached the vicinity of Athens, an order was issued by General Buell restricting the use of army wagons for the uses of the army only in procuring forage and subsistence, and disallowing the use of railroad transportation when it interfered with the progress of supplies for the army. All the trains were immediately organized for the purpose of foraging, and the country in Northern Alabama as far south as the Tennessee River was scoured for forage and subsistence, and everything that could be gathered without absolutely starving the women and children was taken. Quartermasters were sent to different points along the railroad to receive and take care of the supplies so brought in. The county north of the Memphis and Charleston Railroad was also visited thoroughly by our forage trains. The result of these labors was but a small quantity of old corn, left by the rebels, and only gathered in a few bushels at the time form different plantations. Subsistence of no account was brought or could be found, except a few almost worthless cattle and sheep, and these not enough to justify the hunting for them.

In the mean time every effort was concentrated to complete the repairs on the Decatur and Nashville road first, all the force that could be put upon the different points in the break working day and night. Not only were the Michigan Mechanics and