and fire upon rivers boats. One object in breaking up the plantations is to prevent our receiving any information of rebel movements.

All persons in the Trans-Mississippi District who manifest any desire for reconstructions of the Union are to be severely punished.

Funds are to be sent via Havana and Matamoras, and thence to Arkansas, under military escort furnished by General Magruder. A million of dollars have been sent to Shreveport, La., and more will be forwarded across the Mississippi, as opportunities may occur.

the Postmaster-General establishes Shreveport and Camden as general mail depots west of the Mississippi, to and from which points the mails are to be sent across the river, as opportunities occur.

There are extensive powder mills at Arkadelphia, Ark. Niter beds and iron mines are to be extensively worked in Texas. Niter is scarce, but no complaints about sulphur. Iron for railroad and machinery scarce. All iron and iron mines and works to be hired, purchased, or impressed for the Government. Arms scarce in Arkansas.

It is said that the fall of Vicksburg and Port Hudson has been favorable to the rebel cause by the reaction of public feeling and a determination to avenge the loss. The rebel ranks are filling up much more rapidly than before.

[Indorsement.]

The foregoing memoranda are taken from intercepted official rebel dispatches, dated from August 1, to 18, 1863.

Very respectfully, your obedient servant,

H. W. HALLECK,

Major-General, Commanding.

GENERAL ORDERS,
HDQRS. DEPARTMENT OF THE GULF, Numbers 70.
New Orleans, September 28, 1863.

I. The heroic efforts of the Army of the United States have re-established the free navigation of the Mississippi and its tributaries. The vindication of the freedom of these waters by the iron hand of war, against a confederation of rebel States, is an event of equal import with their discovery and settlement, and makes the Union a nation. It is a baptism of blood. In a brief period of time, this vast and fertile valley will be opened to the peaceful commerce of the world.

Notwithstanding the ravages of war, the destruction of property, the dispersion of laborers, and the decimation of population, the inhabitable globe does not offer a nobler theater for intelligent enterprise than the Valley of the Mississippi. The cultivation of new products, the application of new elements and different systems of labor, the immediate reorganization of local governments, and the resistless energy of many millions of freemen, will crate individual and national wealth such as the world has never seen. Never was a country better worth fighting for, better worth defending.

The highest duty of the people is to maintain and defend the freedom of the Mississippi, upon which depends the support of the present and the hope of the future. The Government is entitled to the armed assistance of all those who claim the right of citizens or seek to share their privileges. Those who cover the profits of trade, disclaiming citizenship and acknowledging allegiance to foreign nations only, remain here by permission and favor, and not of right.

In the performance of this duty, and to assist in maintaining the important advantages secured by free communication between the Valley of the Mississippi and the markets of the world, the citizens of the first