CHAPTER LXIV. OPERATIONS IN SOUTHWESTERN VIRGINIA, KEN- SUPPLEMENT EMBRACING DOCUMENTS FOUND OR RECEIVED TOO LATE FOR INSER- TION IN VOLUMES 1, 4, 6, 7, 10, 15, 16, 17, 20, 23, 24, 26, 30, 31, 32, 38, SIR: I have the honor to report that yesterday morning the steamer * Embraces the Union and Confederate reports and the Union correspondence, thick, and I had some days since had commenced depositing upon the magazine arches a cargo of bricks as fast as unloaded. The interrup tion by the mails and the reports rife in Key West of surprises of Southern fortifications so long neglected by the Government had caused me to feel some anxiety for the retention of this work by the United States. My letters of 15th of November last to Captain Brannan, commanding the artillery company at Key West, and to Captain Craven, commanding the naval forces of the United States on these waters, were communicated to the Engineer Department by my letter of same date. I now inclose for the information of the Engineer Department a copy of a letter which I addressed, immediately on arriv ing here, to the lieutenant-general commanding the Army. Captain Craven, upon the receipt of my communication of the 15th of November, directed Captain Stanly to remain in the harbor of Key West with the U. S. steamer Wyandotte; and himself touching at Havana for news repaired to this place, where he lay until I received the acknowledgment by the Engineer Department of the receipt of my letter, and he himself received from the Secretary of the Navy orders to return to his cruising ground, as the Navy Department had no information in its possession to induce it to think his remaining at this place desirable. Left thus without means of holding the work against any serious assault, with only laborers and mechanics and slaves, of whose fidelity to the General Government I had no assurance, and who were under no obligation to risk their lives in the protection of the work, I applied myself to putting the work in such condition that surprise should be impossible, and that if the Government shook off the palsy which seemed to possess it the smallest garrison it might send here would be able to make a good defense. Within the present month reports began to come in of surprises and successful assaults upon fortifications on the southern coast. A naval officer brought to Key West information that Fort Morgan had been seized, and that while he was in Mobile Harbor a dispatch had arrived to the effect that the forts at Pensacola, with the steamer Wyandotte, which was on the dry dock at the navy-yard, had also been taken possession of by the disaffected. Fort Taylor had been put, by the efforts of Captain Brannan and by Captain Hunt, of the Engineers, into a state of efficiency, though their letters appealing for instructions remained unanswered, and the Mohawk, I believe, would be found in case of need within call of Key West, which was her port of supply and information. But after the positive orders to abandon this port given to her commander, Captain Craven, by Secretary Toucey, I could not ask him to come here, and contented myself with doing my best as an engineer to have this work ready for any event. The people of Key West, some of the U. S. officials at which place are reported disloyal, believed that the Wyandotte had been captured and would shortly visit Fort Jefferson. At last it was reported to me by the fishermen in the har bor that the sheriff and an officer of Florida had arrived with instructions from the authorities of Florida to arrest and carry to Key West one fishing vessel a schooner-and the master of another, under a law unconstitutional, and even if constitutional, thus attempted to be enforced out of the jurisdiction of the State. I was also informed that the State convention had passed the ordinance of secession, and that the Governor had seized all the U. S. property within his reach, and that another vessel was off the buoy, supposed to have come to assist the sheriff in seizing the vessels and citizens, lying under what ought to have been the protection of this fortress. Under these circumstances, having in the course of the day assured myself from the crews of the fishing vessels in the neighborhood I could in case of actual attack obtain the assistance of thirty men loyal to the Union, I chartered a fast-sailing smack and dispatched her to Key West with the letter to Captain Brannan, dated the 17th instant, of which I inclose a copy. I knew that he had in Fort Taylor a surplus of field artillery and more heavy guns than he could possibly need for defense. The next morning a large steamer coming from the west and showing no colors hove to off the reef and sent in a boat. It was a relief to most persons on the key to find that the boat contained an officer of the U. S. Army, announcing the arrival of a company of artillery, instead of a summons to the fort from the party who with two steamers and 700 men are reported to have seized Fort Morgan. The work is now secure to the United States, and I trust that its flag once raised upon these walls will never again be lowered. As my late dispatches to the Department have been sent by chance opportunities via Havana, I inclose a copy of my last letter, dated 15th instant, which may reach the Department earlier by the return of the Joseph Whitney than via Havana. A considerable portion of the appropriation yet remains available, and I propose, unless differently instructed, to expend it in such constructions as will increase the efficiency and security of this work, and not to attempt at present the erection of the section of barracks embraced in the project of operations of Captain Woodbury. I presume, too, that in the present state of the Treasury a moderate rate of expenditure will be wise, and that no considerable increase of force would be proper. For the present garrison I have made provisions in some of the frame buildings erected within the fort as quarters, storehouses, &c., and some few days' work will accomplish all that is necessary for their healthful and comfortable accommodation. I have the honor to be, very respectfully, your obedient servant, Brig. Gen. J. G. TOTTEN, Chief Engineer, Washington, D. C. [Inclosure No. 1.] FORT JEFFERSON, HARBOR OF THE DRY TORTUGAS, FLA., November 10, 1860. Lieut. Gen. WINFIELD SCOTT, Commanding U. S. Army, New York: DEAR SIR: As the only engineer present on duty upon the fortifications in this vicinity, I feel compelled to address you on a subject of importance to the public service, and yet one upon which I do not feel at liberty to write a formal official letter. Pardon the liberty or irregularity, and make such use of the views which I present as your own opinion of their value and importance may require. I have just assumed command of this work. I left Washington on the 22d of October. I traveled by the way of Lynchburg, via Knoxville, Tenn., Columbus, Ga., and Montgomery, Ala., to Pensacola. There I took the mail steamer, and, touching off Apalachicola, Saint Mark's, Cedar Keys, and Tampa, I reached Key West on the 7th and this place the next day. I found on some parts of the route a very strong feeling of hostility to the Union. I heard from men reputed to be sober, careful, conscientious citizens, expressions of regret for the danger to the Union, but of |