General Carleton, commanding Department of New Mexico, requests that your ordered out, by special train, 200,000 rations, to arrive at Fort Union, N. Mex., at the earliest possible date. Please answer by telegraph whether they will be sent.

By order of Brigadier General J. H. Carleton:

J. c. McFERRAN,

Major and Chief of Staff.

DENVER, March 27, 1864.

(Received 3,15 p. m., 31st.)

The GENERAL-IN-CHIEF,

U. S. Army:

The expedition your ordered down the Rio Grande cannot be made at present for the want of subsistence, and corned beef and corn must be purchased in Chihuahua, where only specie drafts will be received. Please have the Subsistence and Quartermaster's Departments each credited, in either New York, Saint Louis, or San Francisco, with $150,000 in specie, to be paid on the order of Major J. C. McFerran, chief of staff. We can make these purchases only in Mexico, where our Treasury notes will not be received. It is important to have this deposit at once, as time is everything. Please answer by telegraph. If the governor of Chihuahua gives permits permission for us to march on New Mexico side of river to Presidio del Norte of below, may accept? Can Mexican minister in Washington grant such permission on behalf of his Government? If so, please obtain it and send it to us. There are but two routes through our Territory, namely, wagon road by Fort Davis, Tex., impracticable for want of water; the other a very difficult pack-trail down the Rio Grande. The route through Mexico is the shortest and best. Please answer by telegraph at once, as I am ordered to await your answer here.

By order of Brigadier-General Carleton, commanding department of New Mexico:

J. C. McFERRAN,

Major and Chief of Staff.

[MARCH 28, 1864.-For Grant to Halleck, in reference to formation of a military division embracing the Departments of the Missouri, Kanas, Arkansas, and the Gulf, see Vol. XXXIII, p. 753.

SPECIAL ORDERS,
HDQRS. OF THE ARMY, AJD. GEN 'S OFFICE, Numbers 130. Washington, March 28, 1864.

1. Brigadier General Charles P. Stone is hereby relieved from duty in the Department of the Gulf, and will immediately repair to Cairo, Ill., and report by latter to the Adjutant-General of the Army.

* * * * *

By command of Lieutenant-General Grant:

E. D. TOWNSEND,
Assistant Adjutant-General.