the limits of this department to include all of the State of Georgia and so much of Florida as is situated east of the Apalachicola River. I beg to say that I trust this extension of the territory of the department will be followed at an early day by a commensurate increase of the forces to guard it. It is proper for me to say the more urgent importance of the defense of the ports of Charleston and Savannah must necessarily occupy so much of my time that I cannot be absent long enough to visit and make myself acquainted personally with the defensive resources and capabilities of Florida, and hence must rely entirely on the local commander.

Respectfully, your obedient servant,

G. T. BEAUREGARD,

General, Commanding.

RICHMOND, October 8, 1862.

Gov. FRANCIS W. PICKNES,

Columbia, S. C.:

MY DEAR SIR: Your letter of the 30th ultimo has been received and duly considered. Your request for General Ripley will be complied with if General Lee can spare him. I am expecting daily to hear from General Lee upon the subject.

I will communicate your wishes to the Secretary of the Navy with regard to the commanding officers of the gunboats and will endeavor to have satisfactory details made for that service.

The main advantage of the obstructions across the harbor of Charleston is that they may prevent the enemy's gunboats from running rapidly by during the darkness or at other times. If they are sufficiently strong to detain the vessels for a considerable time under the fire of our forts and batteries, and the guns are well served, we should be able to sink or drive away any boats that might attempt to pass.

Very respectfully and truly, yours,

JEFFERSON DAVIS.

HDQRS. DEPT. OF SOUTH CAROLINA AND GEORGIA,
Charleston, S. C., October 8, 1862.

His Excellency Gov. FRANCIS W. PICKNES,

Columbia, S. C.:

DEAR SIR: I have delayed acknowledging your letter of the 29th ultimo and its accompanying papers in order to inclose you a copy of the report of a board of army and naval officers relative to the present condition of the defenses of this harbor, which I sincerely wish were in a more forward state of completion. I have applied for fifty-one additional pieces of ordnance of the heaviest calibers to arm the inner line of forts and batteries. I consider them indispensable, for my reliance in the boom and other obstructions now being laid across the channel between Fort Sumter and the new batteries on Sullivan's Island is but very limited, except for their moral effect. The two gunboats now under construction are nearly ready, and I believe will be of material assistance to the forts at the entrance of and within the harbor. Captain F. D. Lee submitted to me yesterday a plan for a torpedo ram, which I believe would be worth several gunboats. I can only express my regret it was not adopted at once by the Naval Department at Richmond when submitted to it several months ago, is he informs me. I will endeavor