able to arrange a plan which shall insure the safety of the position with a small garrison, there must at the same time be sufficient space protected to embrace the necessary magazines of ammunition and provisions for a considerable force, say 5,000 men, for five months.

Very respectfully, your obedient servant,

CHAS. P. STONE,

Brigadier-General and Chief of Staff.

SPECIAL ORDERS,
HDQRS. DEPARTMENT OF THE GULF, Numbers 75.
New Orleans, March 24, 1864.

1. The Twelfth Illinois Cavalry, Colonel Hasbrouck Davis, now arriving from the West, will be reported to the office of the chief of cavalry, to be assigned quarters and equipped for the field, without delay.

* * * * *

By command of Major-General Banks:

RICHD. B. IRVIN,
Assistant Adjutant-General.

HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF THE GULF,

Alexandria, March 24, 1864

Major General WILLIAM B. FRANKLIN,

Commanding 19th and Detachment 13th Army Corps:

GENERAL: The major-general commanding arrived here this morning and is desirous of making an immediate advance, on Natchitoches. To effect this as soon as practicable it will be necessary that you should send the First Division of the Nineteenth Corps through this place to-morrow and encamp it on the Bayou Rapides road to Natchitoches. I will have as good ground as practicable selected for your camp.

Very respectfully, your obedient servant,

CHAS. P. STONE,

Brigadier-General and Chief of Staff.

HEADQUARTERS U. S. TROOPS, WESTERN LOUISIANA,
Cheneyville, La., March 24, 1864-2.30 a.m.

(Received 10.15 a.m.)

Brigadier General C. P. STONE,

Chief of Staff, Alexandria, La.:

GENERAL: I acknowledge the receipt of your note of the 23rd instant and congratulate the major-general commanding upon the success of the expedition. When Captain Dudley and his scouts arrived at Carrion Crow I dispatched them to the Piney Woods to examine routes and see the refugees and conscripts said to be hiding there. None of them have yet returned. Considering the condition of my troops and trains, and the facts that I am so totally unacquainted with the country and have no guides, I think it will be better for me to keep on to Alexandria. General Emory's division