"report and opinion. " I believed, and believe still, the proposition of Governor Fletcher is the best we can do for the interests of the service. The troops he will call out will be turned over to U. S. authority and will form a part of the national forces. As defenders of Missouri they will go into Kansas or Arkansas, as may be necessary, in pursuit of invaders. If it is still decided that these troops cannot be received it will be advisable to send all troops raised in Missouri by draft to other sections of the country to serve, and supply their places from Thomas' army, giving him new troops now being raised to take the place of those thus taken from him.

U. S. GRANT,

Lieutenant-General.

SPECIAL ORDERS,
HDQRS. MIL. DIV. OF WEST MISSISSIPPI, Numbers 52.
New Orleans, La., February 21, 1865.

1. The following-named officers are hereby assigned to duty with the Separate Cavalry Brigade organized by Special Orders, Numbers 39, paragraph 5, current series, from these headquarters, and will report without delay to Brigadier General T. J. Lucas, commanding the brigade: Major Jonathan E. Cowan, First Louisiana Cavalry, acting assistant inspector-general; Captain W. B. Cummins, Second Illinois Cavalry, acting assistant quartermaster.

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3. Captain Charles H. Thompson, commissary of subsistence of volunteers, will proceed without delay to Mobile Bay, Ala., and report to Major General Gordon Granger for assignment to duty with the First Division, Thirteenth Army Corps.

4. The troops ordered to be detached from the Department of Mississippi will upon their arrival in this city report for temporary service to the commanding general Department of the Gulf to be assigned to duty within the limits of his command.

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6. Captain R. T. Dunham, assistant adjutant-general of volunteers, is hereby ordered to report to Major General F. Steele, U. S. Volunteers, for assignment to duty.

7. Captain Arden R. Smith, commissary of subsistence of volunteers, will proceed without delay to Mobile Bay, Ala., and report to Major General Gordon Granger for assignment to duty with the Second Division, Thirteenth Army Corps.

8. Captain Daniel K. Hall, commissary of subsistence of volunteers, is hereby relieved from duty with the Fourth Brigade, Reserve Corps, and will proceed without delay to Mobile Bay, Ala., and report to Major General Gordon Granger for assignment to duty with the Third Division of the Thirteenth Army Corps.

9. Captain C. A. Garcelon, assistant quartermaster of volunteers, having reported at these headquarters in compliance with Special orders, Numbers 348, dated War Department, October 15, 1864, will report in person without delay to the commanding general and to the chief quartermaster of the Thirteenth Army Corps for assignment to duty with that corps.

10. Paragraph 9, Special Orders, Numbers 51, current series, from these headquarters, is hereby so far modified as to require only the Seventy-third U. S. Colored Infantry (at Morganza) and the Seventy-sixth U. S. Colored Infantry (at Port Hudson) to report to Brigadier-Gen-