ASST. INSP. General 'S OFFICE, HDQRS. CAV. CORPS,

April 17, 1864.

Lieutenant Colonel C. KINGSBURY, Jr.,

Assistant Adjutant-General, Cavalry Corps:

COLONEL: I have the honor to submit, for the information of the major-general commanding the corps, the following remarks in regard to the Third and First Cavalry Division, which have been inspected by me during the past week:

In the First Brigade, Third Division, Brigadier-General Davies commanding, there are large deficiencies of carbines and pistols in all the regiments but one, the First Connecticut Cavalry. This regiment, however, is armed with Smith carbines, which are reported by the officers as entirely unreliable. In my opinion they are worthless, and should be turned in at once and replaced by others. The commanding officer of the Fifth New York Cavalry, of this brigade, has given the Spencer repeating carbines a fair trial in action and considers them a capital arm. The commanding officer of the First Connecticut Cavalry reports 85 men of his command as having formerly served in the enemy's cavalry, being deserters who took the oath of allegiance, and on entering our service were assigned to his regiment. He has no confidence in them; has them dismounted now in camp, and is very anxious that they should be sent to the rear, as they would be summarily dealt with if captured by the enemy, and therefore could not be relied upon in action. This measure is recommended for the benefit of the regiment. The camps of the brigade are good, except that of the First Connecticut, which, having recently joined, has no quarters built, and in the recent bad weather the men, having no covering but shelter-tents, have suffered great discomfort. With the exception of this regiment, the adjutant's offices are in poor condition throughout the brigade. This is specially the case in the Eighteenth Pennsylvania Cavalry.

The Second Brigade at the date of my inspection was commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel Preston, First Vermont Cavalry, a very efficient officer, who was using every effort to get the brigade into good condition, as it had become considerably disorganized during the winter from the effects of General Kilpatrick's raid and a too frequent change of commanders. In this brigade, as in the First, there are very large deficiencies of arms and horses. There is no uniformity in clothing and no regard paid to the regulations requiring hair and beard to be neatly timed throughout almost all of these regiments. The First Vermont is the best-appointed regiment in the brigade. The Sixth Michigan is in poor condition and demands much care and attention in all respects. The camps of the Fifth and Seventh Michigan are very badly located, and the latter was in a bad state of police. I recommend that this camp especially be removed without delay to higher ground and a healthier atmosphere.

The First Brigade of the First Division, commanded by Colonel Chapman, Third Indian Cavalry, is very small and has about 250 dismounted men. I found the camp of the Third Indiana Cavalry in a bad state of police. I recommend the camp be moved. The arms of this regiment were in very bad order. Their equipments and clothing relieved the eye by their great variety. The ordinary uniform and horse equipments of the United States are ignored in this command, which cannot be excelled in efficiency in action and only fails to be as efficient in other respects on account of the indif-