John A. McClernand to Scouts here to-day from Central Mississippi and Northern Alabama, January 18, 1863

Steamer Tigress, January 18, 1863.

GENERAL: General Ewing’s brigade has been attached to General Sherman’s corpsin pursuance of your order. This addition gives General Sherman’s corps thirty-one regiments, and, according to his last official returns, 25,042 men to twenty-three regiments and 18,000 men in General Morgan’s corps. I wish to call your attention to this disparity, not doubting in the absence of any good reason to the contrary you will at once equalize the strength of the corps.

It would be agreeable to General Morgan that General Osterhaus’ old brigade, consisting of the Third, Twelfth, and Seventeenth Missouri, the Fourth Ohio Battery, and Seventy-sixth Ohio, Colonel Woods, should be transferred tu the Second Division, commanded by General Osterhaus, of General Morgan’s corps. The same division was formerly commanded by General Morgan himself. Nor would this arrangement be disagreeable to any one so far as I know.

With this arrangement, General Sherman would have twenty-seven regiments to General Mergan’s twenty-seven.

Neither the supplies of ordnance, commissary, and quartermaster stores sent for by me, or referred to in your dispatch of the 13th instant as ordered by you, having arrived, although sufficient time has elapsed, I have to urge that you will cause such supplies to be forwarded without delay.

To be caught without such stores, particularly ordnance stores, at so remote a point as the vicinity of Vicksburg, with the river infested by guerrillas, would indeed be a dilemma.

Your obedient servant,

JOHN A. McCLERNAND,

Major-General, Commanding.

MEMPHIS, TENN., January 19, 1863.

Major-General HALLEOK, General-in- Chief:

Scouts here to-day from Central Mississippi and Northern Alabama

both report re-enforcements to Bragg and Pemberton from Virginia.

To latter, 15,000; to former, 30,000.

Cc. S. HAMILTON.