SPECIAL ORDERS,
HDQRS. MIL. DIV. OF WEST MISSISSIPPI, Numbers 175.
New Orleans, La., November 1, 1864.

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5. The officers and enlisted men of the Second Texas Cavalry (formerly designated General Hamilton's Body Guard), will be transferred to the First Texas Cavalry, to serve the remaining time of their enlistment. The execution of this order is devolved upon the commanding general of the Nineteenth Army Corps.

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

B. F. MOREY,
Captain and Assistant Adjutant-General.

HEADQUARTERS DEFENSES OF NEW ORLEANS,

New Orleans, November 1, 1864.

Brigadier General R. A. CAMERON,

Commanding La Fourche District:

Brigadier-General Sherman directs me to inform you that your report of the 27th ultimo is received an carefully examined.* It can only be regretted that the enemy have it in their power still to reach the La Fourche Bayou and carry off the property of loyal citizens. The route by which the raiding party approached the La Fourche Bayou shows that there is a practicable route for them other than the one through Juantes. The general recommends that a vigilant eye be kept on that road as well as on the other. As the force at Plaquemine is not under his command, he has no power to increase its garrison; but that does not prevent you from occasionally sending a force into that region in order to reconnoiter the country even as high up as the Grossetete country. The highway of the enemy from Bay Natchez and north of Bayou Pigeon must at all times be closely watched. Captain Wyman's report is sufficiently clear to authorize and demand that he be brought before a court-martial without delay.+ It matters now whether Mr. Brown is disloyal or not; he has, from his own statement, violated the laws, regulations, and orders as to captured property, and it is high time that a stop be put to these irregularities, especially on the part of commissioned officers.

I am, sir, respectfully,

FREDERIC SPEED,

Assistant Adjutant-General.

HEADQUARTERS DEFENSES OF NEW ORLEANS,
New Orleans, November 1, 1864.

Major DRAKE,

Assistant Adjutant-General, Department of the Gulf:

I have the honor to ask, if not inconsistent with other plans or arrangements of the general commanding, that the Thirty-first Massachusetts, as soon as mounted, be placed at my disposal in the La Fourche District. It is my desire to more effectually close that country from

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*See Part I, p. 891.

+By Special Orders, Numbers 473, War Department, Adjutant-General's Office, December 29, 1864, Captain Wyman was "dishonorably dismissed the service of the United States for pillaging and allowing the men under his command to pillage."

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