until the 31st of October, when I proceeded with the rest of the members of the staff to Chattanooga.

Nothing worthy of note came under my notice while in Atlanta. My principal duty there consisted of providing forage and the necessary details wherewith to obtain it for the entire army.

The troops had already been well supplied with clothing and camp and garrison equipage. There was no dearth of subsistence. Forage had to be obtained from the country, owing to the crossing of the rebel General Hood over the Chattahoochee River and the consequent severance of railroad connection with Chattanooga, the depot of supplies.

There had been no accumulation (beyond ten days) of forage at Atlanta. The railroad had already been taxed to the utmost to supply the army on its onward march from day to day, and with this ten days" supply the break lasted from the 1st of to the 26th day of October.

While in Chattanooga the battles of Franklin and Nashville took place. Unable to reach my command, and the necessity of a chief quartermaster's presence with the army being apparent, Lieutenant Colonel W. G. Le Duc, chief quartermaster Twentieth Corps, was appointed by the major-general acting chief quartermaster in my absence.

I remained in Chattanooga, assuming general charge of the depot and assisting in providing for the wants of Major General R. S. Granger in his attack on Decatur, procuring transportation, &c.

On the 5th day of January I received a telegram from Major- General Thomas directing me to repair to Nashville and report to him for further service in the field. I immediately did so, arriving in Nashville on the following 7th.

On the next day but one I proceeded with headquarters to Eastport, Miss., arriving there on the 16th.

At this place my duties consisted of supplying the army with everything it wanted in the shape of clothing, camp and garrison equipage, and forage, and the furnishing of water transportation for the Twenty-third Corps to Louisville, and the Sixteenth Army Corps (General A. J. Smith's command), including Seventh Division, Cavalry Corps, Military Division of the Mississippi, and Artillery Brigade, consisted of four divisions. The aggregate strength in commissioned officers and enlisted men was 17,314; in horses and mules, 6,709; in wagons and ambulances, 484. The embarkation began on the 5th of February and ended on the evening of the 8th. The command was supplied with ten days" rations of forage and fifteen of subsistence. In every other respect it was also well supplied. About forty boats, some of them the finest in service on the Western waters, were employed in transporting this army to New Orleans.

It was while here that the overflow of the Tennessee River, unequaled by any of former years, took place. I may state that I was on duty with the troops in the field near this river during the period of the great (although not to be compared with this) flood in the spring of 1862, by which a large amount of public property was lost. Apprehending a similar flood this spring, I immediately on arriving at Eastport took steps to prevent the accumulation and exposure of public property at this extremely unprotected point. The troops and a quantity of stores had preceded me about ten days. I also proceeded at once to inspect and correct the manifest want of system and proper care of public property then existing. With the view of having the valuable stores afloat, so as to enable us to remove them quickly and with economy in the event of its becoming necessary by