I have immediately in hand in case General Steele should require assistance in keeping open his communication, and his last report, dated June 28, indicates that he may need some, but I will send an equivalent from the other troops in this department. The First Division has sailed and the Second is now here awaiting transportation. The remainder will be collected and in readiness by the time transportation is ready.

None of the vessels ordered from New York have yet arrived. i shall prepare another force for the field as soon as possible, keeping the Third Division and the staff organization of the Nineteenth Corps as the basis of the new force.

I have ordered General Washburn to send a force of 5,000 men, which he had formerly been instructed to have in readiness, to the mouth of White River, for the purpose of aiding General Steele in keeping open his communications.

I have the honor to be, very respectfully, your obedient servant,

E. R. S. CANBY,

Major-General, Commanding.

[Inclosure Numbers 1.]

HDQRS. MILITARY DIVISION OF WEST MISSISSIPPI,
New Orleans, July 7, 1864.

Ninety-seventh Illinois, 446 effective; Ninety-ninth Illinois, 395 effective; Eighth Indiana, about 300 effective; Eleventh Indiana, about 319 effective; Forty-seventh Indiana, about 541 effective; Twenty-first Iowa, 424 effective; Twenty-second Iowa, 425 effective; Twenty-fourth Iowa, 405 effective; Twenty-eight Iowa, 460 effective; Third Maryland (dismounted cavalry), 320 effective; Twenty-third Wisconsin, 285 effective; Twenty-ninth Wisconsin, 418. Total, 4,738. The additional force will be ordered as soon as the necessary changes can be made.

[Inclosure Numbers 2.]

HDQRS. MILITARY DIVISION OF WEST MISSISSIPPI,
New Orleans, July 4, 1864.

Twenty-ninth Maine, Colonel G. L. Beal, First Brigade, First Division, Nineteenth Corps; Thirtieth Massachusetts, Colonel N. A. M. Dudley, First Brigade, First Division, Nineteenth Corps; One hundred and fourteenth New York, Colonel S. R. Per Lee, First Brigade, First Division, Nineteenth Corps; One hundred and sixteenth New York, Colonel G. M. Love, First Brigade, First Division, Nineteenth Corps; Ninetieth new York, Colonel N. Shaurman, First Brigade, First Division, Nineteenth Corps; One hundred and fifty-third New York, Colonel E. P. Davis, First Brigade, First Division, Nineteenth Corps; Thirteenth Main, Colonel Henry Rust, jr., Second Brigade, First Division, Nineteenth Corps; Twelfth Connecticut, Colonel Ledyard Colburn, Second Brigade, First Division, Nineteenth Corps; Eighth Vermont Colonel Stephen Thomas, Second Brigade, First Division, Nineteenth Corps; Forty-seventh Pennsylvania, Colonel T. H. Good, Second Brigade, First Division, Nineteenth Corps; Fifteenth Main, Colonel Isaac Dyer, Second Brigade, First Division, Nineteenth Corps; Thirtieth Maine, Colonel Thomas H. Hubbard, Third Brigade, First Division, Nineteenth Corps; One hundred and seventy-third New York, no field officer, Third Brigade, First Division, Nineteenth Corps; One hundred and sixty second New York, Lieutenant Colonel J. W. Blanchard, Third Brigade, First Division, Nineteenth Corps; One hundred and sixty-