GENERAL ORDERS, HDQRS. 3rd DIV., 13TH ARMY CORPS, Numbers 17.
Vermillion Bayou, La., March 18, 1864.

This division will move to-morrow morning, at 6 o'clock precisely, in the order previously indicated. Reveille will be sounded at 4.30 o'clock, when the pickets will be relieved.

By order of Brigadier General R. A. Cameron:

OSCAR MOHR,

Captain and Acting Assistant Adjutant-General.

HEADQUARTERS THIRTEENTH ARMY CORPS,
Pass Cavallo, Tex., March 18, 1864.

Lieutenant Colonel RICHARD B. IRWIN,

Assistant Adjutant-General, Department of the Gulf:

COLONEL: Special Orders, Numbers 55, paragraph 13, department headquarters, directs the transfer of the First Indiana Battery from the First to the Fourth Division of this corps, and the transfer of the Chicago Mercantile Battery from the Fourth to the First Division. I request that orders be given tot here batteries to report with all their men and material to the commanders of the divisions to which they are respectively transferred. I also desire to know whether or not Lieutenant I. N. Mitchell, Sixteenth Ohio Battery, has been granted leave of absence at any time within thirty days past.

Very respectfully, your obedient servant,

JOHN A. MCCLERNAND,

Major-General, Commanding.

HEADQUARTERS THIRTEENTH ARMY CORPS,
Pass Cavallo, Tex., March 18, 1864.

Lieutenant Colonel RICHARD B. IRWIN,

Assistant Adjutant-General, Department of the Gulf:

COLONEL: I would respectfully report that large details are at work on the defenses under construction on this island, and that they will be continued until the defenses are completed. A line of couriers has been established between the eastern and western extremities of the island, with stations at intervals of 5 miles.

Respectfully,

JOHN A. MCCLERNAND,

Major-General, Commanding.

HEADQUARTERS THIRTEENTH ARMY CORPS,
Pass Cavallo, Tex., March 18, 1864.

Lieutenant Colonel R. B. IRWIN,

Assistant Adjutant-General, Department of the Gulf:

COLONEL: I respectfully invite the attention of the Secretary of War, through the headquarters of the Department of the Gulf, to the following important facts: Within the brief period that has elapsed since I resumed the command of the Thirteenth Army Corps I have only been able to institute a personal examination into the condition of the First Division of the corps, now on Matagorda Island, Tex.