one company of cavalry at Fort Lancaster; two companies of cavalry at Fort Clark; one company of cavalry and a battery of light artillery at Fort Inge; one company of cavalry at Camp Wood; and one company of cavalry will be stationed at Fort McIntosh, and will, until further orders, be included in the second line.

III. The commanders of these lines will be held responsible for their defense against the enemies of the Confederate States, as far as it is in their power. They will therefore select the point on their lines for their headquarters, make tours of inspection whenever they may deem it necessary and advisable, assign the companies of their regiments to posts, the field officers to their duties; and they will be allowed to concentrate their commands whenever an emergency may seem to demand it, and make such suggestions from time to time in regard to a change of posts as they may see fit.

IV. The officers of the Quartermaster, Subsistence, and Ordnance Departments will take measures to arm, subsist, and give the needful transportation to give efficiency to the troops in these lines. Officers in command of troops will make the necessary requisitions for arms, ammunition, accouterments, and for supplies of every kind necessary to put their commands in readiness for the field. The troops for the first line will be supplied with forty days' rations; those of the second line with a sufficient quantity to allow them to reach their posts.

V. The movements necessary to carry out these orders will be made without delay. Lieutenant-Colonel Baylor will give the necessary orders for the assignment of the companies now in this vicinity to the second line, and will exercise command until the arrival of Colonel Ford. Colonel Ford will assume at once, upon receipt of these orders, the command of the second line, placing the next senior officer in command at Fort Brown. He will, after mustering them into the C. S. Army, assign the three companies of his regiment now on the Rio Grande to the following posts, viz: One to Fort McIntosh, one to Fort Clark, and one to Fort Inge, until otherwise directed. Colonel Ford will also continue in command of the troops on the Lower Rio Grande.

By order of Colonel Earl Van Dorn:

W. T. MECHLING,

Acting Assistant Adjutant-General.

[Inclosure No. 2.]

HEADQUARTERS TROOPS IN TEXAS,
San Antonio, Tex., May 25, 1861.

COLONEL: You will please march with the troops of your regiment and Edgar's battery of artillery as soon as you can make the necessary preparations to put them in the field for service for forty days, and taking the San Antonio and Camp Cooper road, passing through Fort Mason, Camp Colorado, and Camp Cooper, proceed to some point on Red River convenient to cross en route to Fort Cobb or Arbuckle. In passing through Camp Colorado you will order the company stationed to join you, leaving in charge of that post a lieutenant and twenty men until you return. You will also direct the troops of your regiment at Fort Chadbourne and Camp Cooper to join you, leaving a commissioned officer and twenty men at each of those stations to guard the property.

Upon your arrival on Red River you will assume command of all the Texas State troops now in that vicinity under command of Colonel Young. With your own force and that you find already assembled