rapidly and formed a line stretching from the Hillsborough to the head of an indentation in the bay, thus preventing an escape by land. The appearance of Tampa is desolate in the extreme. There were very few men in the place, hardly one able-bodied man between eighteen and fifty years of age. Most of the prisoners belonged to the captured sloop as crew and passengers. Many letters taken from a captured main confirm the reports of Captain Crane that the rebels have abandoned cattle-driving south of Pease Creek. The troops engaged in this expedition were three companies of the Second Colored Regiment, under Colonel S. Fellows, and two companies of the Second Florida Cavalry, under Captain Crane.

Admiral Bailey placed the gun-boat Honduras at my command and issued a general order to all masters of navy vessels in his squadron to assist our military operations in every practicable way.

My orders against pilfering were very stringent. The colored troops on shore behaved remarkably well. The refugee troops having personal wrongs to redress were not so easily controlled.

Colonel Fellows captured in the post-office about $6,000 of Confederate and State money, which will be sent to Washington in accordance with a recent order.

Respectfully,

D. P. WOODBURY,

Brigadier-General.

Brigadier General WILLIAM DWIGHT,

Chief of Staff.

No. 2. Report of Colonel Stark Fellows, Second U. S. Colored Infantry.

HEADQUARTERS SECOND U. S. COLORED TROOPS,
Fort Taylor, Key West, Fla., May 10, 1864.

CAPTAIN: I have the honor to make the following report of operations in the expedition to Tampa, Fla. The particulars of the embarkation from Key West, the delay at the mouth of the Caloosahatchee River and Tampa Bay, as well as the landing of Company E, Second U. S. Colored Troops, with guides, under Captain Bowers, I will omit, as they were under the immediate supervision of Brigadier-General Woodbury:

After the party assigned for the west bank of the Hillsborough River had been landed at Gadsden's Point the small boats (nine in number) were filled with the Second Florida Cavalry, about 140, the Second U. S. Colored Troops, 35 in number, and about 30 sea-men under Acting Naval Master Fales, of the bark J. L. Davis. This force was designed to operate by way of the neck of land between Hillsborough River and the marsh, so as to enter Tampa from the north. A landing was effected at the head of a small bay near Point Deshow, about 3 miles from the city, at daylight Friday, May 6, 1864. Captain Green, Second Florida Cavalry, was immediately sent forward with a party to arrest all persons whom he could find for the purpose of gaining information. Lieutenant McCullough soon followed with the advance guard, and at the proper distance came the main body. Captain Fales, of the Davis, and the seamen under him joined the land forces. When within a mile of the city, a colored man was secured by Captain Green, who gave information that the place was not occupied in any force by the enemy, though