promised to be finished in ten days, or the army would have to leave us. I was doubtful about the time, but had no doubt the ultimate success if time would only permit. General Banks placed at the disposal of Colonel Bailey all the force he required, consisting of some 3,000 men and 200 or 300 wagons. All the neighboring steam mills were torn down for material. Two or three regiments of Maine men were set to work felling trees, and on the second day after my arrival in Alexandria from Grand Ecore the work had fairly begun. Trees were falling with great rapidity; teams were moving in all directions bringing in brick and stone; quarries were opened; flat-boats were build to bring stone down from above, and every man seemed to be working with a vigor I have seldom seen equaled, while perhaps not one in fifty believed in the success of the undertaking.

These falls are abut a mile in length, filled with rugged rocks, over which at the present stage of water it seemed to be impossible to make a channel. The work was commenced by running out from the left bank of the river a tire dam, made of the bodies of very large trees, brush, brick, and stone, cross-tied with other heavy timber, and strengthened in every way which ingenuity could devise. This was run out about 300 feet into the river. Four large coal barges were then filled with brick and sunk at the end of it. From the right bank of the river cribs filled with stone were built out to meet the barges, all of which was successfully accomplished, notwithstanding there was a current running of 9 miles an hour, which threatened to sweep everything before it.

It will take too much time to enter into the details of this truly wonderful work. Suffice it to say that the dam had nearly reached completion in eight days' working time, and the water had risen sufficiently on the upper falls to allow the Fort Hindman, Osage, and Neosho to get down and be ready to pass the dam. In another day it would have been high enough to enable all the other vessels to pass the upper falls. unfortunately, on the morning of the 9th instant the pressure of water became so great that it swept away two of the stone barges, which swung in below the dam on one side.

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This accident to the dam, instead of disheartening Colonel Bailey, only induced him to renew his exertions after he had seen the success of getting four vessels through. The noble-hearted soldiers, seeing their labor of the last eight days swept away in a moment, cheerfully went to work to repair damages, being confident now that all the gun-boats would be finally brought over. These men had been working for eight days and nights, up to their necks in water, in the broiling sun, cutting trees and wheeling bricks, and nothing but good humor prevailed among them.

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The force of the water and current being too great to construct a continuous dam of 600 feet across the river in so short a time, Colonel Bailey determined to leave a gap of 55 feet in the dam, and build a series of wing-dams on the upper falls. This was accomplished in three days' time.

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Words are inadequate to express the admiration I feel for the abilities of Lieutenant-Colonel Bailey. This is without doubt the best engineering feat performed. Under the best circumstances a private company would not have completed this work under one