the spring off 1864. By its date you will perceive that General Smith did not make the report till quite recently, in pursuance of my request made in person, but now the report is full, satisfactory, and completely fills up a gap in the history of the period. After showing it to the lieutenant-general, I beg you to file it with the Adjutant-General of the Army.

I am, with great respect,

W. T. SHERMAN,

Major-General, Commanding.

SAINT LOUIS, MO., September 26, 1865.

GENERAL: In compliance with your request, I have the honor to report in full, as follows, the operations of the detachments of the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Army Corps, under my command, forming a part of the Red River expedition in 1864. Partial reports were made and forwarded to Major General N. P. Banks from time to time, including lists of casualties and captures. The troops under my command, consisting of five regiments of infantry of the First Division, Sixteenth Army Corps under the immediate command of Brigadier General Joseph A. Mower, ten regiments of infantry and two batteries of light artillery of the Third Division, Sixteenth Army Corps (my own division), and six regiments of infantry and one battery of light artillery from the Seventeenth Army Corps, under the command of Brigadier General Thomas Kilby Smith, left Vicksburg at 6 p. m. on the 10th day of March, 1864, on transports, pursuant to orders from you, which were in effect as follows:

To proceed with the command to the mouth of the Red River, where I would find Admiral Porter with a portion of the Mississippi Squadron to convoy my fleet up Red River, and after conference with him to proceed to Alexandria, La., and report to Major General N. P. Banks, commanding Department of the Gulf, reaching Alexandria, if possible, on the 17th of March, from which point Major-General Banks would assume the command and direction of the expedition in person.

On arriving at the mouth of the Red River, at about 12 m., March 11, 1864, a dispatch was received from Major-General Banks, stating that the heavy rains had so delayed his column that he would not be able to reach Alexandria before March 21, 1864. On conferring with Admiral Porter, I learned that Fort De Russy, a strong fort on the right bank of Red River, equidistant from the mouth of Red River and Alexandria, and mounting ten guns, had been garrisoned by the enemy and which it would be necessary to take before we could proceed to Alexandria. It was therefore deemed best to act against it in conjunction, the army in the rear by land and the navy by river. Leaving the mouth of Red River at about 12 m., March 12, 1864, we proceeded up Red River to the mouth of the Atchafalaya Bayou; thence with the transports down the Atchafalaya Bayou to Simsport, a point on its right bank near the mouth of Bayou De Glaize and 30 miles by land from Fort De Russy, reaching Simsport at about 5 p. m. of the same day.

On the morning of the 13th, I sent out the two divisions of the Sixteenth Army Corps, under command of Brigadier General J. A. Mower, with directions to move out about 5 miles on the Fort De Russy road, capture or disperse any parties of the enemy in that vicinity, and gain all the information possible of the state of the roads and posi-