enemy, had captured a small steamer, the Rinaldo, but had, for reasons best known to himself, burned the boat, and fallen back to General Gresham. Upon the advance of General Gresham toward Trinity, he again moved toward the town, and early on the morning of the 3rd instant he crossed the river with a portion of his regiment in flanks, and took possession of the place.

The Black River at Trinity was found to be about 800 feet wide; we crossed by making flats of the pontoons. First, the regiment of mounted infantry, then General Gresham's command, then Colonel Hall's command.

The mounted infantry was then ordered to move to the junction of the Alexandria and Trinity roads; General Gresham to move as near that point as he could. The day having been entirely consumed in crossing, Colonel Hall encamped about 1 mile from Trinity.

When I found that it was impossible to lay the pontoon at Trinity, I ordered the troops to take two days' rations in haversacks, and that transportation sufficient only to carry the ammunition should cross, and left two regiments of Colonel Hall's command to guard the crossing and the train left there.

On the morning of the 4th, General Gresham, with part of the regiment of mounted infantry and his brigade, started in the direction of Harrisonburg, but receiving reports from that portion of the mounted men sent out on the Alexandria road that the enemy was approaching from that direction in large force, the brigade was halted and formed in line of battle, this causing a delay of several hours.

On coming up to the Third Brigade, accompanied by Colonel Hall, after a little time spent in reconnoitering, I ordered the whole command to move to Harrisonburg, where we arrived between 10 and 11 a. m.

The fort (Beauregard) and the town had been evacuated that morning. The enemy had burned all his commissary stores, and the fire was burning in all the casemates and over the magazines, and a very large amount of ammunition had been destroyed. They had left eight guns int he works, four 32-pounders, and four 6-pounder brass pieces. The 32-pounders we spiked and disabled as much as possible, and left them in the burning casemates. One of the 6-pounder brass guns was in a casemate that had been fired and caved in so that it could not be gotten out; another was in a detached work, so that it could not be gotten out without great labor, which we had not the tools to perform. Both these pieces were rendered useless.

The two remaining pieces Lieutenant Gilman, of Colonel Hall's staff, placed upon a flat, and succeeded in boating to Trinity, from which place we brought them safely in. They had also burned a large quantity of small-arms. We completed the work of destruction on the fort as well as possible, and destroyed a large quantity of ammunition stored in the jail and court-house; also some corn and provisions stored in the town; and at 4 p. m. started back toward Trinity, Colonel Hall in advance.

Before leaving, I sent Colonel Malloy out on the Natchitoches road, where he destroyed a grist-mill that had been used in grinding meal for the fort, with a quantity of commissary stores that had been removed from the town. He also burned 57 bales of cotton, marked "C. S. A." On the 5th instant, the whole command recrossed the Black at Trinity. On the 7th, the command recrossed the Mississippi at Natchez, without anything of interest occurring on the march.

On the expedition we captured 20 prisoners of war, who are now here confined, besides a number of suspicious persons, the most of whom