ERAL ULLMAN, Washington, D. C.

GENERAL:--By direction of the Secretary of War, you are
hereby authorized to raise a Battalion (six companies) of
Louisiana Volunteer Infantry to be used for scouting
purposes, to be recruited in that State, and to serve for
three years or during the war.

The said force will be organized as prescribed in Paragraph
83, Mustering Regulations.

The recruitment will be conducted in accordance with the
rules of the service, and the orders of the War Department,
and by the said Department all appointments of officers will
be made.

All musters will be made in accordance with the orders given
in reference to the troops authorized by the instructions
from this office of January 13, 1863.

I am, General Very Respectfully Your Obedient Servant,

THOMAS M. VINCENT, _Asst. Adjt. General._

In furtherance of the order General Ullman proceeded to New Orleans and
assumed command of seven thousand troops already organized. It was said
that he had arranged to place 500 white officers in command of the
troops in Louisiana.

In October thereafter General Banks issued the following order, which
fully explains itself:

Recruiting for the Corps d'Afrique.

GENERAL ORDERS HEADQUARTERS, DEPARTMENT OF THE GULF.
No. 77. _New Orleans_, October 27, 1863.

I. All persons of Color coming within the lines of the army,
or following the army when in the field, other than those
employed in the Staff Department of the army, or as servants
of officers entitled by the Regulations to have servants, or
cooks, will be placed in charge of and provided for by the
several Provost Marshals of the Parishes, or if the army be
on the march, or in the field, by the Provost Marshal of the
Army.

II. The several Provost Marshals of the Parishes and of the
Army will promptly forward to the nearest recruiting depot
all able bodied males for service in the Corps d'Afrique.

III. Recruits will be received for the Corps d'Afrique of
all able bodied men from sections of the country not
occupied by our forces, and beyond our lines, without regard
to the enrollment provided for in General Orders No. 64 and
70, from these Headquarters.

IV. Instructions will be given by the President of the
Commissio