STATE OF LOUISIANA, MAYORALTY OF NEW ORLEANS,

City Hall, June 3, 1865.

Major General N. P. BANKS,

Commanding Department of the Gulf:

GENERAL: In compliance with directions received from your headquarters I have the honor to report as follows concerning the general condition of the city of New Orleans: In regard to health, cleanliness, quiet good order, and safety of citizens under protection of the laws, I consider its condition, as compared with that of other large cities, to be eminently satisfactory, without, however, wishing to be understood as ignoring existing evils or as offering any excuse for relaxation of continued efforts for still further improvement. The experiment of cleaning the city by the contract system I could not but regard as a failure, and the approach of the sickly season rendering regard as a failure, and the approach of the sickly season rendering immediate action necessary, I directed an abandonment of that system and the immediate employment of sufficient force by the street commissioner to secure the cleanliness and health of the city. A marked and steady improvement in these respects has been the result, and with the enforcement of the sanitary regulations prescribed in general orders from your headquarters, and the assistance of the inspectors appointed by the same authority, I have full confidence that the city will again escape the pestilence formerly supposed to be inevitable in this climate. The police force of the city is well organized and efficient. I was anticipated that some trouble might arise from the numbers of paroled prisoners from the late rebel armies constantly arriving in our midst. These anticipations, I am glad to report, have proved groundless. No offensive disposition whatever has been manifested toward Union soldiers or citizens by the prisoners aforesaid. The supply of water to the city by the water works corporation I do not regard as adequate, either in a sanitary point of view or for protection against fire, and the condition of fire plugs and hydrants, for which the company is responsible, but which they fail to keep in rep the necessity of some decided action by the authorities. The fire department is, for a volunteer organization, remarkable efficient and orderly. The present organization of the city government, though different from that of other cities, and in many respects imperfect, is, I am convinced, the best for the present circumstances and condition of society, and with the cordial assistance which the gentlemen in the co-ordinate branches are disposed to afford, I cannot but hope that municipal affairs may be administered successfully and to the satisfaction of the mass of the citizens until that time in which it may be thought best that they should, by an election, reassume the government of their city.

I have the honor to be, general, with great respect, your obedient servant,

S. M. QUINCY,

Colonel, U. S. Volunteers, Acting Mayor.

SPECIAL ORDERS,
HDQRS. ARMY AND DIV. OF WEST MISS., Numbers 150.
New Orleans, La., June 3, 1865.

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8. Major General Gordon Granger, U. S. Volunteers, with that portion of the Thirteenth Army Corps now at Mobile, Ala., will report to Major General P. H. Sheridan, U. S. Army, commanding Military Division, of the Southwest, for orders.