HEADQUARTERS DISTRICT OF NATCHEZ,
Natchez, Miss., January 17, 1865.

Colonel C. T. CHRISTENSEN,

Assistant Adjutant-General:

COLONEL: On a inspection report of Lieutenant Colonel J. M. Wilson, assistant inspector-general Military Division of West Mississippi, of the date of December 31, 1865, of the post of Natchez, occurs the following indorsement:

HEADQUARTERS MILITARY DIVISION OF WEST MISSISSIPPI,
New Orleans, January 11, 1865.

Respectfully referred to Brigadier-General Davidson, commanding District of Natchez, and his attention specially invited to the militia system, to city matters, to the commission for the trial of civil cases, and to the condition of troops and the care and management of contrabands within the limits of his command.

By order of Major-General Canby:

C. T. CHRISTENSEN,

Lieutenant-Colonel and Assistant Adjutant-General.

I have the honor to state that they day after arrival here, upon the resignation of Colonel C. B. Smith, I appointed First Lieutenant E. A. Denicke, Signal Corps, U. S. Army, colored of the Third Regiment Enrolled Mississippi Militia; that under his understand a more just and equitable system has been already introduced and exorbitant fines forbidden, and that the late Colonel Smith left the city of Natchez against my injunction, without satisfactory accounting for the militia fund. His case will be attended to if he ever within my jurisdiction. In regard to city matters, the mayor, Mr. C. D. Townsend, being properly and elective officer was removed, and the municipal fund turned over temporarily to my acting assistant inspector-general, and a board appointed to audit his accounts. He turned over $7,766,35, and I asked General Dana what disposition be made of it. He replies to turn it over provost-marshal for disbursement under his General Orders, Numbers 1, current series of 1865. The board his not yet finished the auditing of the mayor's accounts. All municipal affairs necessary under the military occupancy of the city are now administered by the provost-marshal. Arrangements desired by the inhabitants are being made for a public school, for lighting the with gas, and a city police, heretofore neglected, is in full operation, thus dispensing in a great measure with the large provost guard taken from the troops. The military prison has been examined, cleaned, and all citizens held there not under charges released. I dissolved the commission for the trial of civil cases on the 8th instant on yesterday copy of a letter to General Dana from the Secretary of War, of the date of December 19, 1864, reached me, directing its dissolution, as the Judge-Advocate-General had pronounced its constitution "irregular", thus sustaining my action. The garrison proper of Fort McPherson has been designated, and Colonel B. G. Farrar, a fixture of the post, as he commands the regiment of heavy artillery, assigned to the command. The troops designated for field service have been placed out in camp, and their refitting is actively progressing under Colonel Moore, of the Eighty-third Ohio Infantry. All soldiers except what are absolutely necessary for a small patrol and the usual orderlies of headquarters have been sent out to their regiments, nor is an officer permitted to reside in the city unless specially ordered on duty there, nor a soldier allowed in it after dark but as above named. The details called for by the engineer are furnished with more regularity and fullness for the works at Fort McPherson. The affairs of the Freedmen's Camp are undergoing careful scrutiny by a board of officers of rank, and their report will be