[Inclosure No. 1.]

HEADQUARTERS TRANS-MISSISSIPPI DEPARTMENT,
Shreveport, January 3, 1865.

Lieutenant-General BUCKNER,

Commanding District of West Louisiana:

GENERAL: Inclosed are dispatches from the honorable Secretary of War dated December 7, from General Beauregard and Colonel Brent December 2* and 3, and from Major General Frank. Gardner December 2 and 8,+ all of which relate to the operations of the enemy, urge the movement of troops from this department for the relief of our forces east of the Mississippi, or suggest the means by which this object may be accomplished. As you command the district from which the troops must be chiefly drawn, and from which the crossing to the east of the Mississippi must be made, if possible, the commanding general directs that you report upon the practicability of effecting the transfer of a force to the other bank of the Mississippi and of carrying out the suggestions of General Beauregard.

I am, general, very respectfully, your obedient servant,

J. F. BELTON,

Assistant Adjutant-General.

[Inclosure No. 2.]

HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF WEST LOUISIANA,
Shreveport, January 5, 1865.

Colonel J. F. BELTON,

Assistant Adjutant-General:

COLONEL: Your letter of the 3rd instant relating to the crossing of troops to the east bank of the Mississippi River, and inclosing copies of correspondence on that subject, has been received. In reply I have the honor to state that, in my opinion, it is impracticable at this season of the year to cross any considerable body of men. The following are some of the reasons upon which this opinion is based. When the attempt was made last summer, under the direction of Lieutenant-General Taylor, the roads leading to the Mississippi River were practicable for all arms of the service, and the country through which the movement was made abounded in forage and provisions. A concentration of troops, with a view of forcing or surprising a passage of the river, induced a corresponding concentration of the enemy's gun-boats. After making renewed attempts to effect a crossing General Taylor abandoned the enterprise as hopeless, expressing the opinion that it was impracticable. The vigilance of the enemy and their means of visiting the crossing were so great that Major-General Wharton, commanding the cavalry, after a careful reconnaissance, made use of the illustration "that a bird, if dressed in Confederate gray, would find it difficult to fly across the river." The only feasible plan to have crossed at that time would have been to have crossed the army in small squads at various points, leaving it virtually without organization and making it equivalent in the disaffected condition of the troops at that time, to a disorganization and dispersion of two-thirds of the army.

If it were impracticable when Lieutenant-General Taylor so justly pronounced it so, the difficulties are greatly increased at this time. The country is exhausted of its provisions and forage. The swamps

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*See p.641.

+Neither found.

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