the Mississippi. I have ordered reserves of troops and of water transportation that will enable me to concentrate a large force at any point that may be threatened, pending the preparations for operations west of the river.

Vicksburg will be made the depot for the troops engaged in these operations. The line from this place to Shreveport is the only one that can be safely adopted, and it will be necessary to put the railroad to Monroe in running order and build that part already graded between that place and Shreveport.

I have ordered the abandonment of all point not essential to military operations and the concentration of the troops in large reserves, where they will be held in readiness for any contingency, and will spare no exertion to render our own force as mobile as that of the rebels. I think the organization of the troops that do not take the field should be limited to brigades and divisions, reporting directly to the department or district commanders, and I recommend that the Thirteenth Corps be broken up, and the troops of that corps not required for points in the Department of the Gulf be transferred to the Nineteenth Corps. I have directed the temporary assignment.

I wish to relieve 3, probably 4, of the general officers now in the Department of the Gulf. Can others be spared to report to me? Will you direct 2 officers of engineers, 1 of the ordnance, 6 of the quartermaster, and 4 of the subsistence department to report to me? A part of these are needed to replace officers that it is desirable to relieve.

ED. R. S. CANBY,

Major-General, Commanding.

HDQRS. MILITARY DIVISION OF WEST MISSISSIPPI,
Vicksburg, Miss., May 28, 1864.

Major General H. W. HALLECK,

Chief of Staff of the Army, Washington, D. C.:

The policy of giving protection to the persons employed in the cultivation of abandoned plantations absorbs so many of the troops and disperses them to such an extent as to abstract materially from the force required for offensive purposes. Practically the cultivation of these plantations, and the pretense of furnishing plantation supplies, has resulted in furnishing the enemy with supplies of essential value to him in carrying on his military operations. These abuses will be corrected, as far as possible, without violating the promises of protection made by the Government to the lessees, but, in my judgment, the whole system should be suspended until we are able to destroy the organized armies of the rebels.

ED. R. S. CANBY,

Major-General.

HDQRS. MILITARY DIVISION OF WEST MISSISSIPPI,
Vicksburg, Miss., May 28, 1864.

Brigadier General M. C. MEIGS,

Quartermaster-General, Washington, D. C.:

The operations contemplated west of the Mississippi will require the construction of the railroad from this place to Shreveport, La.,