WASHINGTON, June 24, 1864. (Received July 1.)

Major-General CANBY,

Division of West Mississippi, via Cairo, Ill.:

GENERAL: Lieutenant-General Grant directs that the operations of you command be limited to the defensive, or such operations as may be required to hold the positions and lines of communication you may now occupy, and that all available white troops in the Department of the Gulf be immediately sent to Fort Monroe, Va., where they will receive further orders. General Grant is of opinion that the Nineteenth Corps, or its equivalent, can be spared. Northern and Eastern regiments which have the shortest time to serve will be sent first, as they will here be nearest to their place of enlistment. The Quartermaster-General will send you ocean transports as rapidly as possible. Please telegraph about how many troops you can spare. The troops will, of course, bring their arms and sufficient ammunition for immediate purposes. Their general supplies will be ready for them at Fort Monroe. Unless hereafter otherwise ordered, send only infantry or dismounted cavalry and artillery, who are to serve as infantry. Sufficient troops must be retained to render secure New Orleans and the lines of the Mississippi and Arkansas Rivers.

H. W. HALLECK,

Major-General, Chief of Staff.

HDQRS. MILITARY DIVISION OF WEST MISSISSIPPI,
New Orleans, La., June 24, 1864.

Colonel JAMES A. HARDIE,

Inspector-General, Washington, D. C.:

COLONEL: I have telegraphed to General Halleck and the Quartermaster-General that nearly all the locomotives and rolling stock for the Vicksburg and Shreveport road can be procured here. The cost will be much less than they anticipate, and it will, in my opinion, be much more economical than any other kind of land transportation and water transportation. The occupation of the line of the Red River and the completion of the road to Shreveport will give a new base for operations against Texas.

ED. R. S. CANBY,

Major-General, Commanding.

HDQRS. MILITARY DIVISION OF WEST MISSISSIPPI,
New Orleans, La., June 24, 1864.

QUARTERMASTER-GENERAL,

Washington, D. C.:

The gauge of the Vicksburg and Shreveport Railroad is the same as that of the New Orleans and Opelousas and the New Orleans and Jackson roads. Much of the material of both roads can be used. We can take at once six locomotives from the Opelousas road and two more will be completed in twenty days; one can be secured from the New Orleans and Pontchartrain road. Four locomotives on the Jackson road can be reached and repaired, as it is known where the missing parts are hid. A large number of box and stock cars can be