being so stiff that horses could scarcely move. I then went the only passable road up Grand Bayou, and struck the Mississippi at Mr. Recard's plantation, about eight miles this side of Bayou Goula; took nooning at Recard's, and reached Plaquemine just at dark; drew forage and rations and started at daybreak 9th instant; marched along Bayou Plaquemine to Mr. Roan's plantation on Bayou Sorrel, destroying some twenty flat-boats, capable of crossing from four to forty horses,and some forty or fifty pirogues, skiffs, and small boats. I also destroyed a boat load of smugglers' goods, consisting of one barrel of rasps, one keg of files, and a quantity of stationery; could find no owner for it. Captured 7 horses ready saddled; they belonged to bushwhackers, who upon our approach saw no way of escaping, left their horses and hid in the woods, where it was impossible to find them on account of the underbrush. On Roan's plantation I captured 4 prisoners without arms and 2 horses with equipments. They belonged to the same party that attached the Sixteenth Indiana, and were with the party that had the captured horses, when the gun-boat suddenly came upon them at Micheltre's plantation, at the mouth of Bayou Pigeon, and recaptured the horses and equipments. The men all took the woods and escaped, except the few that I came across and captured. There is no force of the enemy this side of Bayou Plaquemine, Bayou Sorrel, Bayou Pigeon, or Grand Bayou, more than a few bushwhackers, which a force of twenty-five men could any time master. There is now no way of crossing the above-named bayous, except by building new rafts or swimming, which may be done at several points. Learned that a party that captured the Sixteenth Indiana had crossed into the State with their prisoners; also that there were two regiments of the enemy in the neighborhood of Franklin and the Teche, the First and Fourth Louisiana Infantry. Thinking it useless to proceed farther I returned, arriving in Plaquemine the same night; left Plaquemine on the morning of the 10th; camped seven miles from Donaldsonville, and arrived at Napoleonville about noon of the 11th instant, having marched a distance of 175 miles, meeting with no opposition whatever.

I am, general, very respectfully, your obedient servant,

W. J. STEELE,

Captain Company C, Twelfth Illinois Cavalry.

Brigadier-General CAMERON,

Commanding District of La Fourche.

No. 4. Report of Captain Dudley C. Wyman, Eleventh Wisconsin Infantry.

BRASHEAR CITY, September 9, 1864.

SIR: I have the honor to report the following as the result of the expedition which left here Wednesday evening:

I took my command on board the gun-boat 41 at sundown and proceeded to Grand Lake, where the command was transferred to 49. We remained at anchor until daylight, when we weighed anchor and proceeded to Pigeon Bayou. Our entrance was effected easily, considering the snags and the narrowness of the channel. Our progress was slow, as the boat was unwieldy and the bayou narrow and far from