section of mountain howitzers, to Devil's Lake as soon as the grass shall be sufficiently grown to subsist the animals, to remain in that region during the summer months, with a view to intercept the hostile Indians and operate as a check upon the movements of parties interested in the continuance of hostilities. So soon as the programme of operations in this district for the spring and summer shall be matured, I will place the whole plan before you. Your dispatch of 28th ultimo has just reached me, and I will have the honor of replying to it very shortly.

I have the honor to be, general, very respectfully, your obedient servant,

H. H. SIBLEY,

Brigadier-General, Commanding.

DAVENPORT, IOWA, March 6, 1865-7. 50 p. m.

Captain JOS. McC. BELL,

Assistant Adjutant-General:

General Sully left here Thursday evening for Saint Louis.

THOS. DUNCAN,

Major, U. S. Army.

HDQRS. ARMY AND DIVISION OF WEST MISSISSIPPI,
Fort Gaines, March 7, 1865.

Lieutenant General U. S. GRANT,

Commanding Armies of the United States, City Point, Va.:

SIR: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of a copy of your communication of the 13th ultimo and its inclosures. * The receipt of the original was acknowledged from New Orleans, and I now inclose a copy of the general order + issued in pursuance of your instructions.

Very respectfully, your obedient servant,

ED. R. S. CANBY,

Major-General, Commanding.

HDQRS. ARMY AND DIVISION OF WEST MISSISSIPPI,
Fort Gaines, Ala., March 7, 1865.

Major General H. W. HALLECK,

Chief of Staff, &c., Washington, D. C.:

SIR: I have the honor to submit, for the information of the lieutenant-general commanding the Armies of the United States, a statement of the troops left in garrison on the Mississippi River in a more convenient form then in the customary returns. This force will be increased by the draft, and if necessary by calling out the enrolled militia and using the employees of the departments, by about 13,000 men, and if an attack upon any point is made by drawing from the interior of Louisiana and Arkansas, about 10,000 men, as soon as the intentions of the enemy are developed. I think it proper to suggest, however, that any new troops that may be intended for this division from the

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*See p. 829.

+See General Orders, Numbers 30, headquarters Military Division of West Mississippi, March 3, p. 1062.

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