Ossabaw Sound, with fifteen other vessels. He thinks an attack will be made in the moving on Forts McAllister and Beaulieu.

G. T. BEAUREGARD.

SPECIAL ORDERS,
HDQRS. DEPT. S. C., GA., AND FLA., Numbers 54.
Charleston, March 2, 1863.

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V. Brigadier-General Clingman will proceed in light marching order to Savannah, Ga., with his brigade, and report for duty to Brigadier-General Mercer. The brigade will be provided with at least 60 rounds of ammunition and three days' subsistence. The quartermaster's department will proved the necessary transportation, and measure must be taken to secure celerity of movement by railroad.

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By command of General Beauregard:

JNO. M. OTEY,
Assistant Adjutant-General.

CHARLESTON, S. C., March 3, 1863.

Brigadier General H. W. MERCER,

Savannah, Ga.:

I send you my chief engineer, Major Harris, an old West Point graduate; very reliable officer; consult him freely; act without precipitation. Navy must guard Savannah River Brigade far as practicable. Keep Rossedew Battery masked, but ready for use at close range. I will be with you at proper time.

G. T. BEAUREGARD.

INSPECTOR-GENERAL'S OFFICE,

Charleston, S. C., March 3, 1863.

Brigadier General THOMAS JORDAN,

Chief of Staff and Assistant Adjutant-General:

SIR: I have the honor to forward the following report of inspection of Fort Sumter, made on the 28th of January, 1863, in conformity with instructions from department headquarters.

Now more than ever the eyes of the Confederacy are centered on that bulwark of our eastern defenses, Fort Sumter. It is the first historical monument of this war, and as it opened our struggle for independence so it will likely close it with equal glory to our national honor.

Fort Sumter is worthy of its high reputation. No one visits it officially or otherwise without pronouncing it a model of order and good management, the best school of discipline and military bearing, and held by the first and most efficient garrison of the South.

The gallant colonel who commands it, the able and gentlemanly officers who assist him in his duties, the true soldiers, whose zeal, endurance, and regularity of service have become proverbial, all alike know full well that is expected of them by the country, and all are equally willing on he day of trail to undertake any task which brave and loyal men may possibly achieve.

The garrison, composed of seven companies of the First Regiment of