the accidents of march, save the capture at Sabine Cross-Roads, are recorded against the expedition.

In regard to the river transportation and the management of the transport fleet, being off from the river, I could have no supervision of it. On our advance a depot was established at Alexandria, with the conviction that our march to Shreveport would be made successfully, and no danger was anticipated of want of sufficient depth of water in the river for our boats. Both of these premises failed. At this depot the assistant quartermaster in charge controlled the transports.

On the departure from Alexandria and Red River all the public property was safely removed with the exception of the hospital steamer Woodford, which had hopelessly grounded above the falls. Efforts had been made by the assistant quartermaster in charge to raise her, force-pumps and diving apparatus sent up from New Orleans, but all efforts failed, and on our departure General Banks ordered the steamer and everything on board destroyed, to prevent her being useful in any way to the enemy. While on this point I will further add that during our stay at Alexandria the rebels below captured the quartermaster's department steamer John Warner and the chartered steamer Emma.

In connection with the narrative, it will be seen that my position was peculiar on this expedition. Although the senior officer of the department present, I was not officially announced as chief until May 3.

The command of General Franklin, to which I had been closely attached during the winter, and which had received my undivided attention, was brought, as far as its quartermaster affairs went, to a state of complete efficiency. The organization of the department with General Lee's cavalry division was made by him at New Orleans. His outfit was new and in good condition, and his command very fully equipped with all quartermaster's supplies. His assistant quartermasters were generally young, and without that experience so necessary for handling trains in the field, especially those attached to light cavalry commands.

General A. J. Smith's command has a very poor organization of its quartermaster's department. The general was his own quartermaster, and attended to all details himself. His division quartermasters had been left behind. When these distinct commands first joined a little clashing occurred, but after the troops had marched and fought together matters went on more smoothly. In the performance of my duties as chief quartermaster of this command, organized as I have just stated, it was an impossibility to please or satisfy the demands of such a variety of individuals as I had to transact business with. I was oblige, in fact, to await the arrival of accidents and exigencies and then try to overcome them, rather than to foresee and prepare myself to meet them, as would under ordinary circumstances have been my duty. Fortunately, the assistant quartermasters, generally, with the command were experienced, brave, and energetic, and to their joined efforts alone is to be attributed the prompt movement and good condition of the trains under their charge. Complaints were never made of delay in starting, of confusion on the road, of camping improperly, or of any of the tedious movements of the trains by any superior officers concerned.

The only serious losses, as I have before stated, sustained by the