of troops in the Department of Texas, was extended to include the Department of Louisiana.

E. D. TOWNSEND,

Assistant Adjutant-General.

CHATTANOOGA, TENN., August 15, 1865.

Brigadier General D. C. McCALLUM,

Director and General Manager Military Railroads of the United States:

GENERAL: In compliance with your order of the 31st ultimo, I herewith transmit a report of operations of the Construction Corps, U. S. Military Railroads, Division of the Tennessee, from June 1, 1865 (the date of my last report), to August 1, 1865. At the date of my former report we had an effective force of 1,200 men, composed of the First, Seventh, and part of the Fourth Division, all of whom were employed in the reconstruction of the Chattanooga and Atlanta Railroad, which had been opened at that time to the Etowah River. From thence to Atlanta, forty-five miles, the road had been totally destroyed by General Sheman prior to his evacuation of the city. Upon the completion of the bridge across the Etowah, three spans of which had been destroyed, the whole of the carpenter force was distributed along the line and employed in cutting and hauling out cross-ties. One division of trackmen were employed laying the iron, whilst another division was clearing off the debris and surfacing up track, thereby allowing the use of the road as fast as the iron was laid. I had at the same time a large force of the Seventh Division of trackmen at Chattanooga straightening crooked rails, which were used exclusively in laying the track between Etowach to Marietta. We crossed the Etowah bridge June 5, having been four days rebuilding it, and reached Alltoona on the morning of the 15th. Upon reaching this point I sent the bridge force of the First Division ahead to Alltoona Creek, who by the time we reached it with the track had the bridge, 200 feet in length, including a truss of 50 feet, completed and ready for crossing. Reached Acworth on the 20th and turned the road over to the transportation department, who commenced operating it at once to that point. Again sent forward the carpenter force to Big Shanty and points south of it, and whilst a part were getting out ties another party commenced laving tack northward, thus enabling us to close up the gap of six miles in four days, reaching the latter point on the 24th. Rebuilt water-tank and frame and put up a pump at Moon Station, two miles north of Big Shanty. Between Big Shanty and Marietta there was laid by colored troops, under the direction of General Winslow, commanding at Atlanta, about three miles of iron which they had gathered up and straightened. It was laid without chairs, and owing to the secretary of spike only about one-fourth spiked. Put up a tank, frame, and pump at Kenesaw Mountain, and reached Marietta on the 29th. From Marietta to Atlanta, which point we reached on the morning of July 4, the track had been laid, with the exception of about three miles, by parties under the direction of General Winslow. There was but little of it spiked, and few or no chairs on, excepting from the Chattahoochee to Atlanta. They also built the Chattahoochee bridge, a structure 725 feet in length and 90 feet in height, and a trestle 400 feet in length around a break in the high embankment near Vining's, caused by the destruction of a culvert. The expense incurred in building the Chattahooche bridge, the trestle at Vining's, and laying some