II. In addition to the members of the corps staff the following officers are hereby announced on my staff, and will be obeyed and respected accordingly:

Captain George W. Stein, Sixteenth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, acting assistant adjutant-general.

Captain M. C. Garber, chief quartermaster.

Captain J. T. Haskell, chief commissary.

Lieutenant William Benton, aide-de-camp.

W. P. BENTON,

Brigadier-General.

SPECIAL ORDERS,
HDQRS. DETACH, 16TH AND 17TH A. C., Numbers 36. On Steamer Clara Bell, May 22, 1864.

I. As soon as the troops of this command are embarked on board their respective boats a signal of one long whistle will be given for getting up steam, one-half hour after which the same signal will be repeated for starting. At the second signal the boats will swing out into the stream and proceed to Vicksburg, Miss., in the following order:

First, Clara Bell; second, Des Moines; third, Idaho; fourth, Hazel Dell; fifth Emma Boyd; sixth, Mars; seventh, Marmora; eighth, John J. Roe; ninth, Adriatic; tenth, Southwester; eleventh, Ewing; twelfth, Diadem; thirteenth, Sioux City; fourteenth, Liberty; fifteenth, Tutt; sixteenth, Emerald; seventeenth, hamilton; eighteenth, Chouteau; nineteenth, Ginnie Hopkins; twentieth, Madison; twenty-first, Golden Era; twenty-second, Sallie List.

The steamers Marmora and Adriatic will lash to the John J. Roe, one on each side. The same signals will be used as herefore. The boats will keep well closed up. Those boats having on refugees will stop at Natchez to disembark them. If it should become necessary for any boat to land at any other point than Natchez, the commanding officer of troops on board of the boat landing will immediately thrown out a strong picket guard to protect the approaches to the boat, and will hold his men in readiness to fall in at a moment's notice during the time that the boat is at the shore.

By order of Brigadier General A. J. Smith:

J. HOUGH,
Assistant Adjutant-General.

HEADQUARTERS DIVISION OF WEST MISSISSIPPI,

Natchez, Miss., May 22, 1864.

Major General F. STEELE,

Commanding Dept. of Arkansas, Little Rock, Ark.:

I received your dispatch yesterday, at the mouth of Red River. General A. J. Smith, commanding detachments of the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Army Corps, is now on his way to Vicksburg. To-morrow I shall go myself to that place for the purpose of hastening the equipment of his troops. In case your communications should be threatened General Smith will be ordered to communicate with you. The army of the Department of the Gulf is still threatened by a large force of the enemy. If nothing occurs requiring my return to that army I will see you in Little Rock in a few days. If