HDQRS. DEPT. OF SOUTH CAROLINA AND GEORGIA,
Charleston, October 12, 1862.

Mr. J. K. SASS,

Chairman of State Gunboat Commission, Charleston, S. C.:

DEAR SIR: In view of the necessity of getting ready as soon as possible the proposed torpedo ram of Captain F. D. Lee, and the difficulty, if not impossibility, of procuring the materials and machinery for its construction, I have the honor to request that the materials, &c., collected for the State's new gunboats should be applied to the torpedo ram, which I am informed can be got ready sooner (in less than two months), will cost less, and will be more efficacious in my opinion. In other words, I think the State and the country would be the gainers by constructing one of these new engines of destruction in place of the intended gunboat now just commencing to be built.

Very respectfully, your obedient servant,

G. T. BEAUREGARD,

General, Commanding.

HDQRS. DEPT. OF SOUTH CAROLINA AND GEORGIA,
Charleston, S. C., October 13, 1862.

Brigadier General H. W. MERCER,

Commanding District of Georgia, Savannah, Ga.:

GENERAL: The commanding general wishes you to send your chief engineer, or some officer regarded by you as unquestionably competent, to make a reconnaissance of the Ocmulgee River, with a view to its effectual obstruction and fortification against the ascent of that river by light-draught gunboats to Macon. Please direct a detailed report of the reconnaissance to be made, with plans for the projected work commensurate with the ends in view.

Respectfully, your obedient servant,

THOMAS JORDAN,

Chief of Staff.

HDQRS. DEPT. OF SOUTH CAROLINA AND GEORGIA,
Charleston, S. C., October 13, 1862.

General S. COOPER,

Adjutant and Inspector-General C. S. A., Richmond, Va.:

GENERAL: The bearer, Captain F. D. Lee, Provisional Engineers, has submitted to me a plan of a torpedo ram for the defense of this harbor which meets my hearty approbation, as offering altogether the most practicable means of a successful encounter with the formidable iron-clad gunboats of the enemy I have yet seen. This plan having been brought to the notice of the authorities of the State of South Carolina they, with their characteristic promptness, have placed at my disposition the sum of $50,000 for the immediate construction of such a ram as Captain Lee proposes. Practical builders express the belief that they can build it for the sum appropriated, but as I am aware of the difficulty of estimating with the least accuracy the cost of such work at this juncture, I have concluded to send Captain Lee to submit the details of his plan to the War Department, or, if necessary, to the Navy Department, with the hope that the co-operation of the Confederate