received recently of the construction of batteries on the State levee are confirmed to-day by observation with the telescope. We are placing batteries to-day within good range of them.

C. L. STEVENSON.

JACKSON, April 16, 1863.

General W. W. LORING, Fort Pemberton, via Grenada:

The raft at Snyder's Mill has gone.

J. C. PEMBERTON.

HDQRS. DEPT. MISS. AND E. La., Jackson, April 16, 1863.

Major L. MIMS, Chief Quartermaster, Jackson:

MAJOR: I am directed by the lieutenant-general commanding to direct you to await further orders before you send the train to Vicksburg for Brigadier-General Vaughn's brigade. The lieutenant-general also directs that the two guns which arrived to-day must go through to Vicksburg on the same cars without being unloaded here, and the cars, after being unloaded, must be returned immediately to the road to which they belong.

Very respectfully,
H. C. TUPPER,

Aide-de-Camp.

ON BOARD STEAMER DEW DROP, April 16, 1863.

Lieutenant-Colonel [E. W.] PETTUS, Comdg. Sunflower Expedition:

COLONEL: Upon our arrival at Bobo's, the head of navigation upon this stream, I proceeded to the examination of the two forks of Sunflower, from their junction to their source at Mud Lake. This fork is a crooked and narrow stream, very much obstructed from the overhanging timber, the numerous drift piles, and the cypress brakes through which it passes. In many places it is difficult to discern and trace the bayou, as it nearly loses itself in the overflow. The small village of to be seen along its entire length. It would be impossible for any craft to navigate this fork without a vast amount of labor being employed at low water in clearing out the logs, drift, and [willows?] now growing in take stream.

Mud Lake, its source, is a small sheet of water, which in summer months becomes almost dry. It is considerably choked up with a small growth of willow, its banks are surrounded by heavy timber, and the distance between the lake and what is known as the "Old Horseshoe" is almost 400 yards. The levee follows around the bend for the purpose of shutting out the water from the lake, but as there is a crevasse of about 300 yards in length, the water now is admitted with great velocity. This is the point at which the enemy could only attempt to enter to reach the Sunflower, but as the old "Horseshoe Bend" is entirely filed up with a large growth of cottonwood and sycamore, and the ground around Mud Lake covered with heavy timber, it would be almost an impossibility for the enemy to enter without first clearing out at low water a passage through which their boats could pass. There is a communication between East Fork and Moon Lake through Long