he directed me to organize some time about the end of September last. In obedience to the general's instructions, I submitted for his consideration a requisition for ordnance and ordnance stores deemed necessary for contemplated siege operation in the Department of the Gulf and elsewhere, on the 30th day of September, and on that day said requisition received the approval of the division commander. The requisitions were forwarded on the same day through Captain Shunk, chief of ordnance, Department of the Gulf, accompanied by a letter of instruction (a copy of which is herewith inclosed) requiring him to forward them to the Chief of Ordnance, U. S. Army, Washington, D. C., after he had complied with instructions. On several occasions since the requisition for the above stores were forwarded I have had communication with Captain Shunk asking to be informed if he had received any notice of their being ordered. In answer to my inquiries Captain Shunk has informed me that he has received no notice of the stores being forwarded or ordered, and that he has several times written calling attention to he necessity of their being sent without delay. He has also informed me that he had sent a duplicate of the requisition to the Ordnance Department, but received no reply upon the subject. I call the attention of the major-general commanding to the above facts at this time, as I deem it advisable to let him know that the siege trains cannot be got in readiness for siege operation unless the ordnance and ordnance stores called for in the requisition are sent forward, and to request that the attention of the Chief of Ordnance, U. S. Army, may be asked in connection with the matter.

Very respectfully, your obedient servant,

JAS. TOTTEN,

Brigadier-General, Chief of Artillery and Ordnance.

[Inclosure.]

HDQRS. MILITARY DIVISION OF WEST MISSISSIPPI,
OFFICE OF THE CHIEF OF ARTILLERY AND ORDNANCE,

New Orleans, La., September 30, 1864.

Captain F. J. SHUNK,

Chief of Ordnance, Department of the Gulf:

CAPTAIN: I am directed by the major-general commanding the Military Division of West Mississippi to transmit the inclosed requisition for ordnance and ordnance stores for a siege train, &c., through you to the Chief of Ordnance, Army of the United States, at Washington, D. C. The object of transmitting this requisition through office is that you may inform the Chief of Ordnance at Washington what part of the stores called for are on hand in depot at New Orleans and available for shipment to Barrancas and Pensacola when demanded. The stores reported in the requisition as on hand are those now actually in the possession of troops manning liege batteries already or partially organized. The stores which you may have in depot at New Orleans, or which may be available elsewhere in the Department of the Gulf for the contemplated siege train, should, as a matter of course, be deducted from those to be supplied. The major-general commanding the Military Division of West Mississippi directs that you forward without delay the requisition, with the information as to what proportion of the stores you can supply, and which in consequence it will be unnecessary to send from the North. The utmost dispatch in the accumulation of the stores is required by the major-general commanding.

Very respectfully, your obedient servant,

JAS. TOTTEN,

Brigadier-General, Chief of Artillery and Ordnance.