one or two gunboats of light draught should be kept constantly in Berwick Bay. When the water rises, she can enter Grand Lake and the Atchafalaya.

Very respectfully, your obedient servant,

[CHAS. P. STONE,]

Brigadier-General and Chief of Staff.

HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF THE GULF,
New Orleans, December 23, 1863.

Major General WILLIAM B. FRANKLIN,

Commanding Troops in Western Louisiana, New Iberia:

GENERAL: The order has been given respecting veterans. Two regiments from each corps are to go home in a body every thirty days: corps commanders to recommend the order in which regiments shall leave, having due regard in these recommendations to the age of the regiment in service and the promptness with which they enroll.

Very respectfully, your obedient servant,

[CHAS. P. STONE.]

Brigadier-General, Chief of Staff.

HDQRS. DISTRICT OF KEY WEST AND TORTUGAS,
Key West, Fla., December 23, 1863

Brigadier General CHARLES P. STONE.

Chief of Staff, New Orleans, La.:

GENERAL: Referring to my letter of the 14th instant, I have now to report that on the 17th instant I sent a small detachment to Charlotte Harbor, to commence a nucleus of operations in that neighborhood. I inclose a copy of my instructions to the officer in charge.

I propose in a few days to go up with one company of the Forty-seventh Pennsylvania, and establish if practicable a lodgment on the mainland.

Two thousand head of cattle are reported to be driven out of Florida every week for the use of the rebel armies. Probably half of these cattle are driven from Middle and Lower Florida.

In a Florida newspaper of November 7, I find printed official "Instructions to commissary officers and agents;" and interesting document, giving, among other things, detailed instructions for driving cattle a nd taking care of them. I insert a single extract:

The utmost promptness, energy, and industry are required of every agent and his assistants to secure all the surplus supplies of the country; otherwise the armies in the field cannot be fed. As Florida is now, next to Georgia, the most productive State remaining to the Confederacy, much depends upon the activity of the Government agents within near bounds.

After more observation, I have come to the conclusion that Enoch Daniels is not a proper man to command the enlisted men of Florida, though qualified for subordinate command. I therefore ask the commanding general of the department to suspend his provisional appointment as captain if already made. I recommend in his place, as a proper person to command all the refugees who can be enlisted in the State of Florida, Henry A. Crane, acting master's mate, who enjoys the full confidence of Admiral Bailey and of all the naval officers who have had occasion to notice him during the past year.