andria, March 25, 1864.) To secure the smooth working of the department and prevent any misunderstanding between myself and the officers commanding in the above-named districts, I would respectfully suggest that the limits of the Defenses of New Orleans be defined in orders from department headquarters.

Very respectfully, &c.,

J. J. REYNOLDS,

Major-General.

HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF THE GULF,
New Orleans, May 26, 1864.

General McNEIL,

Commanding District of La Fourche:

GENERAL: The commanding general has some reason to apprehend that raids will be made by the enemy in force in your district. He desires that you exercise unusual vigilance in anticipating and thwarting any such movements. He believes that you have force enough for the purpose, but if you require them, more troops will be sent. The general is satisfied that constant communication is kept up between the rebel authorities and citizens in your district pretending to be loyal. This is largely done through the women meeting the relatives and friends in the woods, or under cover of the night. While it is, of course, impossible to enforce altogether, something may be done by redoubled vigilance to check it.

Very respectfully, your obedient servant,

W. DWIGHT,

Brigadier-General and Chief of Staff.

P. S.-On this side of the river it has been found necessary to dispose summarily of some of these rebels who have penetrated our lines frequently, instead of taking them prisoners. You are advised to take the severest and most extraordinary measures, and to make your lines inviolable.

W. DWIGHT,

Brigadier-General and Chief of Staff.

GENERAL ORDERS,
HDQRS. U. S. FORCES ON RIO GRANDE, Numbers 39.
Brownsville, Tex., May 26, 1864.

I. The provost-marshal is directed to enroll, as soon as possible, all male citizens of the United States now being or hereafter coming into the District of the Rio Grande, between the ages of eighteen and forty-five years, and return to these headquarters complete rolls of the same.

II. After such enrollments shall have been completed, and upon due notice from these headquarters, a board of surgeons, consisting of the surgeon-in-chief and such assistants as he may select for that purpose, will examine such enrolled men as may claim exemption on account of physical disability, and all enrolled men not exempted by said board will be immediately organized in companies and battalions, with proper officers, and held in readiness for such military