[Inclosure Numbers 2.]

Extract of a letter from Colonel W. S. Abert, dated Fort Bunker Hill, D. C., January 24, 1865, to General Banks.

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In reply to your communication of to-day, asking for my recollections as to the condition of the navy when our forces retired from Grand Ecore, I have the honor to state that on the afternoon of April 21 you directed me to report to Admiral Porter (then superintending the raising of the Eastport), inform him that the army was ready to move, and if he was prepared would start the same night. I left on the steamer Gillum, and on nearing the point where the Eastport was sunk found she had gone. The Cricket, with Admiral Portere on board, was tied up to the right bank of the river, and she, together with an army transport, were the only steamers in sight. I went on board the Cricket and delivered my message to the admiral. He told me they had been successful in raising the Eastport, and that he had started her down the river. He hoped to get her through safely, but at the same time expressed some doubts about it. I told him that the army would move that evening if the was ready. He directed me to inform the general commanding that he had made preparations to protect the transports, and that he was prepared to move. I then returned to Grand Ecore and delivered my message to the general commanding.

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W. S. ABERT,

Colonel, Commanding.

ADDENDA.

U. S. MISS. SQUADRON, FLAG-SHIP BLACK HAWK,

Mound City, June 13, 1864.

Extracts of Admiral Porter's report to the honorable Secretary of the Navy concerning the building of dam and release of vessels from above the falls by Lieutenant-Colonel Bailey:

FLAG-SHIP BLACK HAWK,

Mouth Red River, May 16, 1864.

Honorable GIDEON WELLES,

Secretary of the Navy.

SIR: I have the honor to inform you that the vessels lately caught by low water above the falls at Alexandria have been released from the unpleasant position. The water had fallen so low that I had no hope or expectation of getting the vessels out this season, and as the army had made arrangements to evacuate the country, I saw nothing before me but the destruction of the best part of the Mississippi Squadron. There seems to have been an especial providence looking out for us in providing a man equal to the emergency. Lieutenant-Colonel Bailey, acting engineer of the Nineteenth Army Corps, proposed a plan of building a series of dams across the rocks at the falls, and raising the water high enough to let the vessels pass over. This proposition looked like madness, and the best engineers ridiculed it, but Colonel Bailey was so sanguine of success that I requested General Banks to have it done, and the entered heartily in the work. Provisions were short, and forage was almost out, and the dam was