This force after it sails will be subject to general instructions from General Sheridan. The Twenty-fifth Corps will start in a few days from City Point to same destination, with orders to report in Mobile Bay to General Steele for further orders. Steele should be ready so that there should not be a single day's delay after the arrival of the Twenty-fifth Corps. Hold all troops that can be spared from your command subject to the orders of General Sheridan. Require your quartermasters and commissaries to fill his requisitions with dispatch.

U. S. GRANT,

Lieutenant-General.

HDQRS. ARMY AND DIVISION OF WEST MISSISSIPPI,
Mobile, May 18, 1865-2 a. m. (Received 10 a. m. 24th.)

Brigadier General J. A. RAWLINS,

Chief of Staff, Washington:

The monitor Manhattan and the ran Tennessee are the vessels on this coast that can cope with the Stonewall. To save time I have asked Admiral Lee to send the Manhattan at once to New Orleans to be fitted out for Galveston; that is, if he can be spared. There is nothing on the Georgia coast now but wooden gun-boats.

E. R. S. CANBY,

Major-General, Commanding.

HDQRS. ARMY AND DIVISION OF WEST MISSISSIPPI,
Mobile, May 18, 1865.

Admiral S. P. LEE,

Mound City, Ill.:

Can you spare the Manhattan? She is the only vessel on this coast that will be able to meet the Stonewall. If you can, will your order her to New Orleans with a view to her being fitted out for Galveston?

E. R. S. CANBY,

Major-General, Commanding.

U. S. FLAG-SHIP STOCKDALE, May 18, 1865.

Major General E. R. S. CANBY,

Commanding Army of West Mississippi, &c.:

MY DEAR SIR: Two of the monitors are undergoing repairs in machinery and are unable to steam. Of course the little wooden gun-boats are powerless to resist the attack of a vessel as formidable as the Stonewall is represented to be. I must therefore rely upon the forts (Pickens and Barrancas) at Pensacola for her destruction. Should she attempt entering that port no doubt the artillerists of those fortifications are quite efficient and will give her a warm reception. At Morgan I have the Kickapoo (monitor), the Cincinnati (iron-clad), and the sloops Ossipee and Lackwanna to aid the fort. Neither of these four is fit for cruising, but will do good service at the point where they are now located. I hope Forts Jackson and Powell may be able to manage her should she be able to get into the Mississippi. It is very painful to me to be left with such miserable craft for defense, but the Department has failed to give me the vessels which I applied for months since. On