the movements of the Thirteenth Corps and cavalry were going on, the Twenty-fifth Corps was embarked at City Point, Va., for the coast of Texas, to occupy the points of Indianola, Corpus Christi, Brazos Santiago, and the line of the Rio Grande, most of the corps, however, being sent to the Rio Grande line. Great trouble was experienced in the landing of the troops of this corps, in consequence of the bad harbors in Texas, the great draft of the vessels employed as transports, and the absence of suitable lighters to convey the troops across the bars. While the foregoing operations were in progress the Fourth Army Corps, numbering about 10,000 men, with all its field transportation, arrived in New Orleans, having been ordered to report to me for service in Texas, and was transported as rapidly as possible to Indianola, from thence to Victoria, and ordered to occupy the line from that point to San Antonio.

The troops on the line from Galveston to Austin were supplied with comparative ease, as the bar at Galveston offered no very difficult obstacle; the wharves, although in bad condition, still sufficed; the railroad from Hempstead to Brenham was in condition to transfer our necessary supplies, and from Brenham to Austin there was a passable wagon road.

the landing of the troops at Indianola was difficult on account of the dangerous bar, which had to be lighted over from the transports, and in consequence of the destruction of the wharves the lightering had to be, in most cases, to the shore in small boats. Then, when the troops were landed, there was no water for a distance of eighteen miles, and they had to be hurried over this distance as soon as landed, and from thence to Victoria, where timber and water could be obtained in abundance. Victoria is distant from Indainola about thirty-five or forty miles.

After these difficulties had been overcome it was found that the country between Indianola and Victoria was not passable for wagons in the winter, and the railroad from Lavaca to Victoria had to be repaired at much labor and some expense, else the troops would have had to come back to their supplies at Lavaca and Indianola, where there was no water. I therefore ordered the railroad repaired, and after it was in running order sold it to the company, covering the cost of repairs. The wharf at Indianola had also to be built entire, and when completed sold to cover the expenses incurred. But on account of these obstacles, and especially the difficulty of crossing the outer bar, which is about twenty miles from the landing, some of the transports had to return to New Orleans or the mouth of the Mississippi River for water for the troops and coal for the transports.

At Brazos Santiago the wharf had been destroyed, and many of the same difficulties occurred here, and some of the transports had also to return to New Orleans and the mouth of the Mississippi River for supplies of coal and water. The troops on this line were extended up the Rio Grande as far as Laredo, and on this line much the larger number of troops were placed. A wharf had to be built at Brazos, and at first the troops up the Rio Grande were supplied by small steamers, which we had sent to that river, but the difficulties of entrance at the mouth of the Rio Grande made this line of supply very dangerous and precarious for the supply of the troops, as sometimes a transport could not cross the bar at the mouth of the river for nine or ten days. I therefore ordered the building of a railroad from Brazos to White's Ranch, on the Rio Grande River-- a distance of eleven miles-- and this gave security to the supply of the troops. This railroad was afterward sold at about $40,000 over the actual expense of construction. All these difficulties in the movement of troops were overcome, an din a short period of time.