hands, were destroyed. The whole affair has been most successful, and reflects great credit on Brigadier-General Grierson for the skill and dash with which it was executed.

I am, general, your obedient servant,

C. C. WASHBURN,

Major-General.

Major General E. R. S. CANBY,

Commanding Military Division of West Mississippi.

Numbers 4. Brigadier General Benjamin H. Grierson, U. S. Army, commanding Cavalry Division, Department of Mississippi.

HDQRS. CAV. DIV., DEPARTMENT OF THE MISSISSIPPI, Memphis, Tenn., January 9, 1865.

SIR: I have just returned from an important and highly successful expedition against the lines of the enemy's communications and his stores in Mississippi. The task was accomplished by a command which was inferior, both in organization and numbers, consisting, in a great part, of detachments of regiments which were heretofore under my command, but the greater portion of which were recently transferred to Middle Tennessee. I beg leave to state that a few months since I was in command of a division of fifteen regiments of cavalry, which I had succeeded after much labor in organizing and equipping in a manner second to no body of cavalry in the U. S. service, as will be seen by reference to the reports of the inspector-general, District of West Tennessee. One by these regiments have been taken from my command and transferred to other officers in Middle Tennessee, Arkansas, and Missouri, until but a mere shadow of my former splendid command remains. With this I have attempted and succeeded in a hazardous expedition at a period when roads and steams were considered almost impassable. I further take the liberty of expressing my belief that the emergencies in Middle Tennessee, Arkansas, and Missouri have ceased, and as from the most reliable and recent reports the army of General Hood has fallen back and concentrated near Corinth, I believe Memphis, or some other point on the Mississippi River, to the favorable for the concentration of cavalry in order to operate successfully against the enemy's lines of communication in the West, the river being a much more efficient agent than railroads for the transportation of forage and other supplies necessary for the successful management of cavalry.

I respectfully ten or twelve regiments of cavalry, to be organized into a division and concentrated at Memphis, or any other point the Department may think best, with a view of operating in battle against the enemy, or in raids against his railroads, depots, and arsenals. The regiments which I would select are as follows: Sixth, Seventh, and Seventh Kansas; Third Michigan, and any others which might be assigned to me. With most of these regiments I have been identified as commander for the past eighteen months. With them, properly organized and equipped, I would be willing to undertake the destruction of every railroad and arsenal and depot of supplies in possession of the enemy.