regime here. I believe Major General A J. Smith is up the Missouri River with the First and Second [Third] Divisions. Brigadier-General Dennis and the regiments belonging to him which he carried away from here, namely, the Eighth, Eleventh, Forty-sixth, and Seventy-sixth Illinois, and the Seventh and Thirtieth Missouri, were, by a published order from headquarters Military Division of West Mississippi, transferred to the Nineteenth Corps in the latter part of July, have been at Morganza, La., ever since till lately, and are now up the White River. General Dennis commands Second Division, Nineteenth Corps; Major General J. J. Reynolds, the commander of the Nineteenth Corps, was lately here and he has no expectations that those regiments are ever to leave his corps again. The same may be said of the Twenty-eighth and Twenty-ninth Illinois, which had also been transferred from Natchez to the Nineteenth Corps; the former is t Morganza and has by General Reynolds been reorganized into a battalion of companies of veterans; the latter is en route to White River.

I have within a few days been ordered to send from the meager garrison here 2,000 infantry to re-enforce the forces at White River, and I have sent from here the One hundred and twenty-fourth Illinois, and the Forty-seventh and Fifty-third U. S. Infantry (colored), and from Goodrich's Landing the Sixty-sixth U. S. Infantry (colored). It will not be safe long to leave these garrisons as weak in infantry as they are at present. They have now been stripped below their minimum for defense in order to send re-enforcements to the relief of General Steele, and so far from having a disposable, movable force we have not enough, including cavalry, to make up full garrisons. The only white infantry at Natchez is the Eighth New Hampshire, about 225 effective, lately sent there from New Orleans. The only white infantry here are the Fifty-eighth Ohio and Seventy-second Illinois. You will see the impossibility of my sending you the last-named regiment until eight General Canby shall send me some more regiments or shall return one or two of those which have gone. Most of the officers of this regiment are detached, owing to the impossibility of finding proper material for special duty in colored regiments. Colonel Starring is ordered to report for duty to Major-General Hurlbut, commanding Department of the Gulf, to organize the militia of New Orleans. I will relieve the seventy-second and sent it to you, at whatever inconvenience, the moment a regiment is returned here, so that it would be safe to spare it. The garrison of Natchez to-day, including men on "special, extra, or daily duty," is about 3,600 men, of whom only about 2,000 are infantry. They garrison three posts, Natchez Bullitt's Bayou, and Vidalia. The garrison of Davis' Bend is 500 colored infantry, that of Milliken's Bend 650 colored infantry, that of Goodrich's Landing 750 colored infantry and artillery, that of this post 7,500 of which only about 3,800 are infantry. I have no means of knowing when any of the detached troops of this corps will return, but I will make effort to collect the scattered fragments so soon as the emergency in Missouri and Arkansas is over. Feeling fully the responsibility of the position you have given me, it will be my aim to do my utmost to advance the public interest and justify the choice you have made.

I have the honor to remain, with the highest respect and esteem,

N. J. T. DANA,

Major-General.

Can an energetic, driving, honest chief quartermaster be found for the corps?