HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF THE SOUTH, ATLANTA, GEORGIA, October 31, 1868. Brevet Major General John A. Rawlins, Chief of Staff, Washington, D. C. GENERAL: I herewith transmit, for the information of the General-in-Chief, a brief abstract of the operations under my command, whilst in charge of the late Third Military District, and subsequently in command of the Department of the South. War Department, General Orders, No. 104, of date December 28, 1867, assigned me to the command of the Third Military District, and on the 6th of January, 1868, I assumed the command with the Headquarters in this city. The Third Military District at that time, consisted of the States of Georgia, Alabama and Florida. The condition of affairs was simply as follows: In the State of Georgia, a Convention elected under the Reconstruction Laws, was in session in Atlanta, but hampered and embarrassed for want of funds. In Alabama, a Convention had met, framed a Constitution, nominated a ticket for State officers, and adjourned. In Florida an election had been held for members of a Convention, but the body did not meet, under the orders of my predecessor, till the 20th of January. It is impossible in a report of this kind to give all the various questions and their details, which arose and were adjusted by my action; but as by the provisions of the Reconstruction Laws, from whence my authority emanated, the power of disapproving my acts was vested in the General-in-Chief of the Army, I from the first, before taking action in any important matter, laid before that officer my views and proposed course. I have therefore deemed it best to append to this report, as part of it, a full file of the telegrams between the Headquarters of the Army and myself; and it is with great pride and satisfaction I refer to the saine, as they will show that it was rarely that the General-in-Chief was called on to overrule my judgment. I shall confine myself in this report to the briefest allusion to the special points to which I wish to invite particular attention. One of the first questions that presented itself to my action, was the financial difficulty in the Georgia Convention. I found my predecessor had endorsed the requisition of the Secretary of the Convention, and directed its payment out of the Treasury, and that the Treasurer |