the enlisting of such a regiment on your arrival at Pensacola, and will please report as early as possible your opinion as tot he practicability of the matter. Should you see clearly that a regiment or a strong battalion can be raised promptly, you will please make requisition for horses, equipments, arms, and ammunition, which will be at once filled. You will please recommend for appointment in said regiment such good cavalry officers of your acquaintance as can be approved, that the corps may be properly commanded.

Very respectfully, I am, general, your most obedient servant,

[CHAS. P. STONE,]

Brigadier-General, and Chief of Staff.

HEADQUARTERS NINETEENTH ARMY CORPS,
Bayou Barricroquant, La., October 30, 1863.

Brigadier General CHARLES P. STONE, Chief of Staff, Dept. of the Gulf:

GENERAL: Having now been for some time in command of the forces of this department in the field, I have considered some changes of details which, in my opinion, should be made, and respectfully submit them, very generally, of course, for the consideration of the commanding general, not even knowing whether they can be legally made, but convinced that some change of the kind is required for efficient service.

In my opinion, the Thirteenth and Nineteenth Army Corps, so long as they serve together, should be embodied into one corps, by an intermixture of the two corps, forming brigades of, say, six or eight regiments, as nearly as possible three or four from the Western and three or four from the Northern and Eastern States, the brigades to be organized into divisions of three brigades each; the artillery to be distributed, as nearly as possible, equally among the divisions.

The corps thus formed should be allowed some time for this organization, and should be thoroughly drilled, whenever time or opportunity will permit.

The regiments now in garrison should be embodied in the organization, and the western regiments should form parts of the garrisons, as well as those of the Nineteenth Corps. In fact, as there are two corps of white troops in the department, the duty should be divided between them, as nearly equally as possible.

I believe that the plan now suggested will add much to the efficiency of the troops. I have seen great want of discipline, and a tendency to disobedience of general orders, caused by the fact that the two corps are from different sections of the country, do not know each other, and are consequently jealous of each other. I think that the combination of the two will, in a great degree, correct this, and that the experiment is worth trial. There is no doubt in my mind that, after the change, there will be a spirit of emulation in the performance of duty that must be beneficial to both bodies.

The legal objections to this combination may, perhaps, be insuperable, but, if it be possible to overcome them, I am convinced that the efficiency of the army in this department will be much increased. Some general and staff officers will be deprived of some rank and command, if the change by made, but I do not think that consideration would actuate any of them in their opinions as to the property of the course which I now suggest.

Very respectfully, your obedient servant,

W. B. FRANKLIN,

Major-General, Commanding.