of the 16th instant I would respectfully recommend him for that position. A more full and complete report giving casualties, &c., will be forwarded as soon as possible.*

I have the honor to be, very respectfully, your obedient servant,

E. H. WOLFE,

Colonel, Commanding.

[45.]

LOUISVILLE, December 25, 1864.

(Received 5 p. m.)

Major-General MEIGS,

Quartermaster-General:

Bridges at Elizabethtown and Nolin, on Louisville and Nashville Railroad, destroyed by the rebel General Lyon. Road will be useless for a week or more.

R. ALLEN,

Brigadier-General and Quartermaster.

[45.]

SPECIAL ORDERS, HDQRS. MIL. DIV. OF THE MISSISSIPPI, Numbers 248.
Nashville, Tenn., December 29, 1864.

* * * *

V. Brigadier General Thomas Kilby Smith, U. S. Volunteers, will proceed via Paducah, Ky., without delay to join the command of Major General A. J. Smith, at Eastport, Miss. * * *

* * * *

By order of Major General W. T. Sherman:

R. M. SAWYER,
Assistant Adjutant-General.

[45.]

CHIEF QUARTERMASTER'S OFFICE,

DEPARTMENT OF THE CUMBERLAND,

Nashville, Tenn., December 29, 1864.

Bvt. Major General M. C. MEIGS,

Quartermaster-General U. S. Army:

GENERAL: I have the honor to forwarded herewith monthly report of First Division, Quartermaster's Forces, Nashville, Tenn., under my command as depot guards here.+ You will observe that the condition of the Second Brigade is not entered on my report. The reason for this is that this brigade is composed solely of employes of U. S. Military Railroads, and owing tot he fact that these employes are not subject to my orders I have found it impracticable to preserve a military organization longer among them. Whe I first insituted the organization among my own force, I requested Colonel (then Captain) J. C. Crane, assistant quartermaster, in charge of disbursements and property of U. S. Military Railroads, to co-operate with us, and he cheefully set about to do so. He went so far so to enroll his men and to perfect his organization and even partly to arm it; but he failed to secure the required

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*See VOL. XLV, Part I, p. 490.

+The monthly report for November, 1864 (here omitted), shows an aggregate of 4,506 enrolled employes, exclusive of the Second Brigade, not reported.

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