[MAY 15, 1865. -For General Orders, Numbers 94, War Department Adjutant-General's Office, announcing regulations for the muster out of troops, see Vol. XLVI, Part III, p. 1153.]

HDQRS. MILITARY DIVISION OF WEST MISSISSIPPI,
New Orleans, La., May 15, 1865.

Major General N. P. BANKS,

Commanding Department of the Gulf, New Orleans:

GENERAL: The rebel ram Stonewall left Havana on the 11th instant ostensibly for Galveston, but may make her appearance on the coast farther east.

Very respectfully, your obedient servant,

C. H. DYER,

Assistant Adjutant-General.

HDQRS. MILITARY DIVISION OF WEST MISSISSIPPI,
New Orleans, La., May 15, 1865.

Major General N. P. BANKS,

Commanding Department of the Gulf:

GENERAL: I am directed by the major-general commanding to inform you that Clinton, La., will be the headquarters of the U. S. forces in that vicinity and the troops will be posted as is deemed most advisable.

Very respectfully, your obedient servant,

C. H. DYER,

Captain and Assistant Adjutant-General.

HDQRS. MILITARY DIVISION OF WEST MISSISSIPPI,
New Orleans, La., May 15, 1865.

Major General N. P. BANKS,

Commanding Department of the Gulf, New Orleans, La.:

GENERAL: You are respectfully requested to cause a thorough inspection of all the posts on the Mississippi River within the limits of your department, with a view to the immediate reduction of their garrisons to the lowest minimum sufficient to hold them as military posts, it being deemed unnecessary, under the present state of affairs in the States east of the Mississippi River, to retain there any places d'armes or fortified camps. An early report on the result of this investigation is very desirable, and you will be pleased to have stated in it the exact number of troops, infantry, artillery, and cavalry required, and any changes you may deem necessary in existing fortifications when the contemplated reduction takes place. You also will report the number of troops you could spare within your command for operations in the field, after the above reduction, enumerating the organization and condition of the different bodies, the material of the artillery, &c. All troops whose term of service expires within three or four months ought to be retained in garrison.

Very respectfully, your obedient servant,

P. JOS. OSTERHAUS,

Major-General and Chief of Staff.