addition, we have been compelled to purchase about 700 mules for the same expedition. I have made contracts here for the manufacture of all the clothing reuqired for the whole army on this coast. This, w ith the purchase of tents and camp equipage, and the indispensable outlay in erecting temporary shelter and flooring the tents to preserve the health of my men during a winter of unprecedented severity, together with the purchase of horses to amount 1,700 cavalry, will give you an idea of the expenses necessarily incurred here. Still, Colonel Babbitt is of opinion that if all his requisitions are filled he will have funds sufficinet to meet the demands against the Quartermaster's Department. I feel that the expenses in this department are large. If my command were concentrated it would materially reduce our money reuqisitions. As it is, the necessities of the service must be met, and the Quartermaster-General may rest assured that the expenditues will be made economically. The incessant rains ans storms for six weeks past have entirely submerged the whole country. An immense amount of property has been lost, as well as many lives. Our overland mail c ommunications are interrupted to such an extent that we must rely solely on the express companies. It is quite probable that many important documents from the East will never reach us. I send all my mail matter by the tri-monthly express on the steamers for New York, and I would recommend that the same mode be adopted by the Department at Washington.

Very respectfully, your most obedient servant,

G. WRIGHT,

Brigadier-General, U. S. Army, Commanding.

HDQRS. OF THE ARMY, ADJUTANT-GENERAL'S OFFICE,
Washington, January 20, 1862.

Brigadier General G. WRIGHT, U. S. Army,

Commanding Department of the Pacific, San Francisco, Cal.:

SIR: Your letters of the 9th and 10th of December have been received. The General-in-Chief fully approves the course you have pursued in your administration of the affairs of the Department of the Pacific. A telegram was sent you December 16 approving your proposition to recapture the forts in Arizona and New Mexico, which was acknowledged by you the next day.

I am, sir, very respectfully, your obedient servant,

L. THOMAS,

Adjutant-General.

HEADQUARTERS DISTRICT OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA,
New San Pedro, Cal., January 20, 1862.

Major E. A. RIGG,

First Infantry California Volunteers, Fort Yuma:

Your communication dated 10th instant has been received. As the matter about recruits sent to your station has already been decided by Colonel Carleton's orders, I can give you no new instructions about them. I presume that you have obeyed your orders implicitly. during Colonel Carleton's temporary absence from the district I have no new orders to communicate to you about placing supplies of hay on the desert. Keene lso has his instructions and is apparently acting on