retain control of the Arkansas between that place and Little Rock. I recommend that gates be placed at the entrances to the fort; that these entrances be covered on the inside by a traverse arranged for musketry; that platforms be laid for one six-gun battery, to be shifted from point to point on the lines as the exigencies of defense might require, and that the entire work be surrounded by an inclined palisading or an abatis placed beyond the ditch under musketry fire of the parapet. A light infantry parapet with an obstacle outside of it should be should be constructed along the crest of the hill between the flanks to command the flats. Steps Cut into the side of the hill might form a sufficient obstacle flanked from the rifle-pit above. At the mouth of White River, where troops are now stationed, I do not deem fortifications necessary. As the position is subject to overflow, it does not appear probable that it will ever become an important depot, or that an amount of supplies beyond the capacity of a few covered barges to accommodate will ever be stored there.

I am, general, very respectfully, your obedient servant,

Q. A. GILLMORE,

Major General and Insp. General of Fortifications, Mil. Div. of West Miss.

CIRCULAR 3.] HDQRS. SECOND DIV., SEVENTH ARMY CORPS,

Devall's Bluff, Ark., December 28, 1864.

SOLDIERS OF THE SECOND DIVISION:

Having unexpectedly been assigned to duty out of this department I am called upon to leave you. My association with the greater part of the division dates with the operations before Vicksburg, but with some of you it began with my entering the service, and I count it a distinction that on the early muster-rolls of the war, in the archives of the Government, my name appears with yours as a private soldier. I indeed claim you as my comrades, my brothers. I will not, I cannot feel that in separating from you, I a, severing those ties of sympathy and affection which have long united us. I cannot cease to have a personal interest in each one of you. Elsewhere I shall find the dauntless spirit, the ingenuous youth, the bright manhood which characterize your ranks, and within throughout the noble volunteer Union armies are so attractive; but nowhere will I expect to find you surpassed in these traits; nowhere more intelligent or better disciplined troops. Full well do I know how grandly you will respond to every necessary tax on your fortitude and your valor. Soldiers! I have not been indifferent to your exposures, nor to the patient manner in which you have performed a thousand obscure toils; and while I reflect on the privations you are pledged to in the future, I trust I shall not go aside from what is proper, if I stop to speak an encouraging word to you as to the condition and prospects of the country for which you are making so many sacrifices. The Union flag is respected on every sea. The humblest law-abiding citizen is secure in his rights, wherever it floats at home. Steady progress is made in the suppression of the rebellion. Our means for carrying on the war are still ample. A lofty patriotism still animates the people at home. Witness their munificent benefactions and their princely fairs for the benefit of disabled soldiers and sailors. In some instances citizens, out of their separate means, have contributed a vessel of war fully equipped and manned. These things, so decorating to our civilization, barely had their parallel in the foremost state of