SPECIAL ORDERS,
HDQRS. MIL. DIV. OF WEST MISS., OFFICE CHIEF OF CAVALRY, No. 15.
New Orleans, September 21, 1864.

I. Colonel O. P. Gooding, Thirty-first Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, having reported at this office in accordance with Special Orders, No. 134, paragraph 6, headquarters Military Division of West Mississippi, dated September 20, 1864, will proceed to Baton Rouge, La., and report in person to Brigadier General A. L. Lee, commanding Cavalry Division, for assignment to the command of the brigade composed of the Fourth Wisconsin and Eleventh New York Regiments of Cavalry.

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By order of Major General E. R. S. Canby:

J. W. DAVIDSON,
Brigadier-General and Chief of Cavalry.

SPECIAL ORDERS,
HDQRS. DEPARTMENT OF THE GULF, No. 255.
New Orleans, September 21, 1864.

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19. In compliance with instructions from the headquarters of the Army and from the headquarters of the Military Division of West Mississippi,all enlisted men belonging to that portion of the Nineteenth Army Corps now serving up Virginia on detached service in this department are relieved from such duties. They will without delay be forwarded to the headquarters of the Nineteenth Army Corps in this city, to be returned to their regiments. Commanding officers are charged with the prompt execution of this order.

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21. In compliance with instructions from the headquarters Military Division of West Mississippi, the Thirty-first Massachusetts Volunteers will be mounted and armed and equipped as a regiment of mounted infantry. It will be reported to the chief of cavalry at these headquarters, who is charged with execution of this order.

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By command of Major-General Banks:

C. S. SARGENT,

Acting Assistant Adjutant-General.

NEW ORLEANS, September 21, 1864.

Brigadier-General LAWLER:

As your troops may be required in another quarter,the commanding general does not wish you commit them to any operations from which they cannot readily be withdrawn. Have you any additional information in regard to the regiment referred to in your dispatch of the 16th,* when it crossed the Atchafalaya, and the means of crossing?

C. T. CHRISTENSEN,

Lieutenant-Colonel and Assistant Adjutant-General.

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*See Part I, p.803.

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