NAVY DEPARTMENT,

Washington, May 31, 1864.

Real-Admiral D. D. PORTER,

Commanding Mississippi Squadron, Cairo, Ill.:

SIR: The Department acknowledge the receipt of your interesting report of the 16th instant, giving a detailed and graphic account of the rescue of the Mississippi Squadron from its perilous position above the falls at Alexandria, Red River, and of the aid which you received through the indomitable perseverance and engineering skill of Lieutenant-Colonel Bailey, acting military engineer of the Nineteenth Army Corps. It is with no ordinary feelings of pleasure that the Department learns of the safe passage of this valuable squadron, threatened as it was with inevitable capture or destruction, and congratulates you and your command that the fleet, which has borne such a conspicuous part in many of the great events of the war, has been spared to the country for future usefulness and renown.

You will tender the thanks of the Department to the officers and men of the army for the cheerful aid given you in this great emergency, without which the squadron would unavoidably have fallen into the hands of the rebels or been destroyed.

While regretting the loss of the steamers Signal and Covington and lamenting for the brave men who fell in the engagement with the enemy, the Department takes great pleasure in expressing its admiration of the gallant manner in which those vessels were defended, and has reason to believe that the officers and men did their whole duty nobly and faithfully.

Very respectfully,

GIDEON WELLES,

Secretary of the Navy.

MISSISSIPPI SQUADRON, FLAG-SHIP BLACK HAWK,

Mound City, June 13, 1864.

Major General E. R. S. CANBY,

Commanding Mil. Div., of West Mississippi:

GENERAL: I am directed by the honorable Secretary of the Navy to convey the thanks of the Department to the enterprising and gallant officers and men who so nobly aided the gun-boats to get down from above the falls at Alexandria when there was every prospect of their remaining there, owing to low water, and a probability of their being destroyed to prevent their falling into the hands of the rebels. I have already expressed to the Department in my report (a copy of which I herewith inclose*) the high estimate I placed upon the services of Lieutenant-Colonel Bailey and his associates, and I can add nothing that will convey a stronger expression of feeling for the aid we received through the indomitable perseverance and skill of Lieutenant-Colonel Bailey, to whom belongs the entire credit of the enterprise, he having conceived the idea of building the dam. It is

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*See p. 219.

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