the policy can be carried out. If not, an abandonment of the district may become necessary, and giving up the plantation policy.

Very respectfully,

JOHN P. HAWKINS,

Brigadier-General, Commanding.

SPECIAL ORDERS,
NEW ORLEANS, LA.,

Numbers 102.
November 16, 1863.

I. So much of General Orders, Numbers 70, dated Headquarters Department of the Gulf, September 28, 1863, as prescribes that-

All able-bodied men of color employed upon Government or private plantations will be detailed for military service in the Corps d'Afrique, upon order of the commission of enrollment-

is hereby suspended.

II. No officer or other person will hereafter be permitted to recruit for any corps regiment of colored troops from off the Government or leased plantations.

III. No negro will be recruited from off the plantations of private individuals until further orders, for the purpose of permitting planters to take off their present crop. This paragraph refers only to parishes in Louisiana-exempted by the President in his proclamation of January 1, 1863.

The above order is issued by the undersigned in the absence of Major General N. P. Banks, feeling assured that were that officer present, and cognizant of existing circumstances, he would issue orders to the same effect.

* * *

By order of the Secretary of War:

L. THOMAS,

Adjutant-General.

FLAG-SHIP McCLELLAN,

Off Aransas Pass, Tex., November 17, 1863.

Brigadier General CHARLES P. STONE,

Chief of Staff, Department of the Gulf:

GENERAL: It gives me pleasures to inform you the capture of the works at Aransas Pass this day (17th). We have in our possession three heavy guns, 1 lieutenant-colonel, 9 officers, 90 men, between 80 and 90 horses, a quantity of small-arms, a schooner, and considerable transportation.

We arrived at Corpus Christi, from Brazos Santiago, yesterday about 2 p. m., and landed our troops during the night. It was supposed that the Matamoras, which we brought with us from the Rio Grande, would be able to cross the bar, but we found only 2 1/2 feet of water there, which made it impossible, and we were compelled to land our troops upon the coast by means of surf-boats. The landing occupied a greater part of the night. The troops reached Aransas Pas early this morning, taking the enemy completely by surprise. After skirmishing for a couple of hours on the island, and the firing of some most excellent shots from the Monongaheta, they surrendered.

To-morrow we move against Pass Cavallo, where we shall have, perhaps, a more severe contest.