blockade-runners (steamers) are in the harbor. One or two river steamers have a bow gun each. Informant heard that Fort Magruder had but one gun. Thinks South Battery has no guns. Another fort is being constructed at the southern end of the obstruction, opposite Pelican Spit. Both soldiers and citizens are eager for peace at any price. Slave-holders are willing to sacrifice their slave property, if necessary, to secure peace. Patrick Tervill left Mobile January 31; reached Meridian February 2, and Jackson February 3, 1865. General Forrest was at Jackson in same hotel with informant. He is said to be in command. General Taylor has gone to Augusta with all of Hood's army except one division, which is to remain at Meridian. Hood brought back from his Tennessee campaign between 10,000 and 15,000 demoralized troops, exclusive of cavalry. Both cavalry and artillery horses are utterly broken down. Informant met Loring's division on the railroad en route to Georgia and South Carolina. The railroad is in fair condition to Meridian. Several bodies of troops en route to South Carolina and Georgia have lately passed through Mobile. Five hundred captured negro troops (captured by Forrest) are at work on the Mobile fortifications. W. W. McDonald arrived from Mobile in New Orleans about three weeks since. He sounded the Blakely River at the mouth to enable the Heroine to escape. The outer bar has nine feet and a half of water; the inner bar nine feet and one inch. One mile from the mouth on the east bank is a work mounting twelve guns. Opposite, on the west side of the river, is a crescent-shaped bed of torpedoes; no others in the river. Three miles higher up, in the fork of the Blakely and Appalachee Rivers, is a work mounting about ten guns, commanding both rivers. A depth of nine feet of water can positively be found from the mouth of Blakely River up that river to the "Cut-off" into the Alabama River to Mobile City. The obstructions have caused the bars at the mouths of the Appalachee and Blakely Rivers to be washed away.

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

S. M. EATON,

Captain and Chief Signal Officer, Mil. Div. of West Mississippi.

BATON ROUGE, LA., February 17, 1865.

Major General E. R. S. CANBY:

I arrived at Vicksburg 11 a. m. on the 15th, and disembarked all my troops, in obedience to your telegram order. Finding no instructions, I ran down to Morganza to telegraph you. Orders have just gone up. I will leave immediately, re-embark my troops, and report to you as soon as practicable in New Orleans.

A. J. SMITH,

Major-General.

HDQRS. MILITARY DIVISION OF WEST MISSISSIPPI,
New Orleans, La., February 17, 1865.

TELEGRAPH OPERATOR KENNER, LA.:

The troops of Major General A. J. Smith's command will not disembark at Kenner, but proceed to New Orleans, and be reported by their commanding officer to headquarters Military Division of West Mississippi.

By order of Major General E. R. S. Canby:

C. T. BARRETT,

Captain and Aide-de-Camp.

56 R R-VOL XLVIII, PT I