post and Pine Bluff, and have been working hard repairing roads, building fortifications, &c. The average sick in the division is 9 3/5 per cent. The Cavalry Division is divided into four brigades. Of the First Brigade the inspector writes as follows: Third brigade is under a could, and requires the immediate attention of firm, vigorous, and vigilant commander to bring I out of the difficulties which envelop it, and save the available portion from becoming a positive injury to the service. The affairs of the Thirteenth Illinois Cavalry are in the utmost confusion. Serious charges have been made against every field officer in the regiment whose official conduct has been under investigation. The quartermaster has been found guilty of selling Government property and appropriating the proceeds; the company kitchens of several squadrons were filthy, the rations squandered; the men complained of the smallness of the ration, while officers were found messing with them; arms and equipments were in a dirty and disorderly condition; discipline bad; personal cleanliness, dirty. The following-named officers mess with enlisted men, in defiance of order from brigade headquarters to the contrary: Captain E. Brown, Thirteenth Illinois Cavalry; Lieutenant N. E. Orton, Lieutenant W. E. Sparrow, Lieutenant W. B. Barton, Lieutenant T. L. Bailey. The Seventh Missouri Cavalry is in bad condition on account of lack of officers; with 296 enlisted men there were but three officers for duty. The detachments of the Fifth Kansas are in a neglected, inefficient state. The detachment of the First Indiana Cavalry was in very poor condition. The commanding officer, Captain James A. Pine, reports that the men receive only one-quarter rations of rice, beans, or hominy, and that the hard brad is wormy. Captain Pine is reported as inefficient and incompetent, and the irregularities in the command are mainly to be charged to his neglect of duty. This brigade numbers 1,000 men present for duty, 173 of whom are on extra duty. There are only 396 serviceable horses. The Second Cavalry Brigade, commanded by General Bussey, is composed of constipated and broken regiments. The First Missouri is without a field officer. It needs a through efficient officer in command; its affairs run too loosely entirely. The Fourth Arkansas Cavalry is steadily improving. The First Iowa Cavalry is without its complement of officers. One company has been commanded by a private, there not being even a non-commissioned officer present. The duties of Captain Jenks, commanding, are very laborious. The stables are poorly policed. The arms of the Third Missouri are not in as good condition as they should be, and the men are dirty. The Third U. S. Cavalry is in good condition.

The Third Cavalry Brigade is under the command of Colonel Geiger, at Brownsville. The Eight Missouri and Tenth Illinois are reported in fine condition. The Ninth Iowa is reported in tolerable condition, but the men look dirty, and the officers allow too much familiarity with the enlisted men. In enforcing discipline the smaller offenses are tried by a field officers' court, but heavier crimes have gone unpunished from the difficulty in getting the offenders before a court-martial. In this regiment offenders have escaped punishment who were charged with desertion, sleeping on post, left, and mutinous conduct. Courts are now being organized. The Eleventh Missouri Cavalry is reported in terrible condition. The complain bitterly of their arms (the Merril carbine), and state Merril's cartridge-box to be nuisance that the service should to rid of. They are now being armed with the Sharps carbines. The Fourth Brigade is much scattered. The Third Michigan, at Brownsville Station, stands very well in everything pertaining to its general police, but its discipline and steadiness in the field hardly