CHAP.XI.] CORRESPONDENCE, ETC. - CONFEDERATE.

HDQRS. SECOND REG'T TEXAS MOUNTED RIFLES, La Mesilla, Ariz, December 2, 1861.

Brigadier-General HEBERT, Commanding Department of Texas, San Antonio, Tex.:

SIR: I have the honor to inform you that my spies have returned from the immediate vicinity of Fort Craig, and report the enemy fortifying that place strongly, and also extending their camps and fortifications down the river as far as Alamosa, 30 miles below the fort. General Sibley's troops have not arrived yet, but I learn are within a short distance of Fort Bliss. I shall continue to watch the movements of the enemy until the arrival of General Sibley, when he will have command and act as he thinks proper.

I have no fears now of an invasion from above, and am happy to state that my regiment is in fine health and ready for any service demanded of them. The small-pox has abated, and will, I hope, entirely disappear in a few days more. I regret to report the loss of several men by that disease. Since putting my men in quarters the health of the command has greatly improved.

Very respectfully, your obedient servant,

JOHN R. BAYLOR, Lieutenant-Colonel, Commanding.

GALVESTON, TEX., December 2, 1861

General P.O. HEBERT, C.S.A.:

In obedience to your verbal order of this day, I have obtained the best information in my power touching the means of defense of the mouth of the Trinity River.

There are three passes in the Trinity River; two of them will not admit the passage of anything but small boats, drawing from 2 to 2 1/2 feet of water, and these are much obstructed by logs, and shoals. The third and main pass is through a canal, the entrance to which would be under the guns of a battery, placed at Chambersia, or the same place, called Anahuac. Through this canal there is about 4 1/2 feet of water at mean tide. Anahuac is on the mainland, on the east side of the bay and there is a good road t Liberty and Beaumont. A battery at Anahuac, supported by 500 infantry, would seem to be a sufficient force to command the entrance to Trinity River. A steamer suited to the navigation of the Trinity River would be able to communicate with Liberty, distant about 25 miles by land and from 30 to 40 miles by water. Navigation above Liberty is practicable only in high stages of water, which is usually from about the middle of January. The condition of water will admit of navigation to Magnola, 125 miles from the town of Sabine, which is distant about 40 miles from Natchitoches, on Red River.

I am, very respectfully, WM. W. HUNTER, Commander, C.S. Navy.

SPECIAL ORDERS,} HDQRS. DEPARTMENT OF TEXAS, Numbers 206. } Galveston, Tex., December 3, 1861.

I. Colonel H.E. McCulloch, First Regiment Texas Mounted Rifles, is, until further orders, assigned to the immediate command of the military