HEADQUARTERS MILITARY DIVISION OF THE GULF,
New Orleans, La., May 13, 1866.

GENERAL: I have the honor to make the following report of the operations of the Cavalry Corps, Army of the Potomac, from April 6, 1864, to August 4, 1864:

On March 27, 1864, I was relieved from the command of the Second Division, Forth Corps, Army of the Chamberland, to take command of the Cavalry Corps, Army of the Potomac, and on the 4th of April, in General Orders, Numbers 144, current series, War Department, I was assigned to that corps, then lying in the vicinity of Brandy Station, Va. The corps consisted of three divisions and twelve batteries of horse artillery, and in a few days after I joined was adjusted as follows: Brigadier General A. T. A. Torbert to command the First Division; Brigadier General D. McM. Gregg, the Second Division; and Brigadier General J. H. Wilson, the Third Division; the artillery being under the command of Captain Robertson, U. S. Army. The officers and men were in pretty good condition, so far as health and equipment were concerned, but their horses were thin and very much worn out by excessive, and, it seemed to me, unnecessary picket duty, the picket-line almost completely encircling the infantry and artillery camps of the army, covering a distance, if stretched out on a continuous line, of nearly 60 miles. The enemy, more wise, had been husbanding the strength and efficiency of his horses by sending them to the rear, in order to bring them out in the spring in good condition of the impending campaign; however, shortly after my taking command, much of the picketing was done away with, and we had about two weeks of leisure time to nurse the horses, on which so much depended; consequently, on the 4th of May, when the campaign opened, I found myself with about 10,000 effective men, and the same number of horses in passable trim. After carefully studying the topography of the country from the Rapidan to Richmond, which is of a thickly wooded character, its numerous and almost parallel streams nearly all uniting, forming the York Rive, I took up the idea that our cavalry ought to fight the enemy's cavalry, and our infantry the enemy's infantry. I was strengthened in this impression still more by the consciousness of a want of appreciation on the part of infantry commanders as to the power of a large and well-managed body of horse, but as it was difficult to overcome the established custom of wasting cavalry for the protection of trains, and for the establishment of cordons around a sleeping infantry force, we had to bide our time.

On May 4 the army moved; Gregg's division taking the advance to Ely's Ford, on the Rapidan; Wilson's the advance to Germanna Ford, on the same stream; Torbert's covering the trains of the army in rear, holding from Mitchells' Station to Culpeper, and around to Stevensburg, and strongly picketing the fords from Germanna Ford to Rapidan Station. As soon as the Second Corps reached Ely's Ford, Gregg moved to Chancellorsville, and, upon the Fifth Corps reaching Germanna Ford, Wilson made the crossing of the Rapidan, moved through Old Wilderness, and advanced to Parker's Store. On the 5th Torbert joined me at Chancellorsville, and General Meade ordered Wilson in the direction of Craig's Meeting-House, where he was attacked, and, after a sharp engagement, driven back, via Shady Grove Church, to Todd's Tavern. It was necessary for him to take this route, as the enemy's infantry had advanced from the direction of Orange Court-House, and had occu-