OFFICE OF THE CHIEF ENGINEER, DEPT. OF THE GULF,

New Orleans, July 23, 1864.

Major GEORGE B. DRAKE, Assistant Adjutant- General:

SIR: In answer to your communication asking for information in regard to the works at Brashear City, I have the honor to report that there are three works at that place- Fort Buchanan, above the town, the bastioned fort (no name) below the town, and the tete- de pont, on the opposite side of the bay. Fort Buchanan is a small work and is constructed to mount nine guns; none are at present mounted. The bastioned fort, designed for about 800 men, is arranged for an artillery armament of thirteen guns; nine old smooth- bore guns are mounted in it and two howitzers. This work is below the city. midway between the bastioned fort and Fort Buchanan, on the opposite side of Berwick Bay, is the tete- de- pont, designed to cover the ferry. It is a large work, very strong, arranged for an artillery armament of forty- three guns. Only two guns of flight caliber are at present mounted there.

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

P. C. HAINS,

Captain of Engineers and Acting Chief Engineer, Dept.of the Gulf.

SPECIAL ORDERS,
HDQRS. DEPARTMENT OF THE GULF,

Numbers 195.
New Orleans, July 23, 1864.

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5. So much of Special Orders, Numbers 192, of July 20, 1864, from these headquarters as directs that the Sixteenth Indiana Mounted Infantry shall relieve the Eleventh New York Cavalry, and that the latter regiment shall be concentrated at Greenville,is hereby revoked.

6. The Sixteenth Indiana Mounted Infantry will proceed without delay to Thibodeaux to relieve the Second Maine Cavalry. The quartermaster's department will furnish the necessary transportation.

7. The Second Maine Cavalry, upon being relieved by the Sixteenth Indiana Mounted Infantry, will proceed without delay to Algiers, and be reported immediately upon arrival to Colonel Sherburne, chief of cavalry, preparatory to embarkation. The quartermaster's department will furnish the necessary transportation.

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11. Brigadier General T. W. Sherman, commanding Defenses of New Orleans, will cause the detachment of the Ninth Connecticut Volunteers, now at Proctorville, to be relieved from duty at that point and reported to Major General J. J. Reynolds, commanding U. S. fores in the field, New Orleans, preparatory to embarkation. The quartermaster's department will furnish the necessary transportation.

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By command of Major- General Banks:

J. S. CROSBY,

Acting Assistant Adjutant- General.

HEADQUARTERS U. S. FORCES ON RIO GRANDE,
Brownsville, July 23, 1864.

Major GEORGE B. DRAKE,

Assistant Adjutant- General, New Orleans:

I have the honor to report to the commanding general that all the stores have been removed safely to Brazos and a considerable quantity