Report of Colonel A. Stager, Assistant Quatermaster and Superintendent of the U. S. Military Telegraph, for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1863.

M. C. MEIGS,

Quatermaster-General, Washington, D. C.:

GENERAL: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your General Orders, Numbers 13, dated Washington, D. C. July 22, 1863, and to submit the following report of the operations and condition on the U. S. military telegraph as my reply thereto, respectfully calling your attention to the accompanying reports of the different quatermasters under my control. Their reprots contain details of the operation of the military telegraph in the respective department to which they are assigned. The report of Major-General Eckert, Department of the Potomac, is marked A; Captain Bruch, Department of the Ohio, Cumberland, and Mississippi, B; Capatin David, Departemnt of Western Virginia, C; Captain Wade, Ceveland, Ohio, D; Captain Smith, Department of Missouri, E, and that of Captain Bulkley, of the Department of the Gulf, is maked F. Since my appointment as aide-de-camp, assistant quatermaster, and superintendent of the U. S. Military Telegraph I have been the commanding officer in charge of the military telegraphs in the United States. My headquarters, from the commencement of the fiscal year ending in June, 1863, up the the 1st of April, were at Washington, D. C. In April I was ordered by the honorable Secretary of War to make a personal tour of observation of the military telegraph in the West and Southwest, and to make my headquarters thereafter in Ohio. In June, 1863, I was on special duty at Memphis, Tenn., and Cairo, Ill., by ordered of the honorable Secretary of War. It is my duty as commanding officer of the Military Telegraph Department to exercise a general supervision of all its lines, to give such orders and direction to the subordinate officers in this branch of the public service as may from time to time be necessary for the better conduct of the relative affairs and business therein, and to supervise the purchase of all the material which the wants or exigencies of the various departments may demand. The military telegraph lines reguired by the Government have been constructed over an extensive and scattered territory, embracing the District of Columbia, parts of the States of Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Maryland, Delware, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Arkansas, Tennessee, Kentucky, Missouri Kansas, and the Indian Territories. Under the immediate direction of Major Eckert, assistant superintendent of the Department of the Potomac, 300 miles have been constructed during the fiscal year. Under the direction of Captain Smith, assistant superintendent of the Department of the Missouri, 548 miles have been constructed during the year, one mile of which was submarine. Under the direction of Captain Bruch, assistant superintendent of the Department of the Ohio, Cumberland, and Mississippi, 510 miles have constructed during the year. Under the direction of Captain David, assistant superintendentnt of Western Virginia, 97 miles have been constructed during the same period. Under the direction of Captain Bulkley, assistant superintendent of the Department of the Gulf, 300 miles have been built, as abover, one mile of which was submarine.

On the 1st of July, 1862, there were 3,571 miles of land and submarine lines in working order. During the fiscal year 1,755 miles of land and submarine line were constructed and added to the above, making the total number of miles of land and submarine military telegraph lines