OPERATIONS IN KENTUCKY AND TENNESSEE. [Chap.XII.

rate States to call upon the governor of Tennessee for troops for the defense of the Mississippi River and the States included in this military department.

The defenseless condition of this department was patent from the moment I arrived and had a hasty view of the field. The necessity for a strong and efficient army is present and pressing.

I therefore avail myself of the permission above cited to call upon your excellency to furnish for the service of the Confederate States 30,000 men. I would prefer volunteers for the present war, as securing better disciplined, more skilled, and effective forces, and if any such shall volunteer by companies, they will be gladly accepted under the act of May 8. But dispatch now is of the first importance, and therefore companies, battalions, and regiments offering for twelve months will be at once received.

After the full conversations I have had with your excellency I need say nothing more of my deficiency in arms, except that it exists to the same extent still.

I beg your influence with the volunteers, to induce them to bring into the field every effective arm in their possession. Rifles and shot-guns, double-barreled guns in particular, can be made effective weapons in the hands of your skilled horsemen. These arms will be replaced in the hands of the troops by uniform arms at the shortest practicable period.

I have selected the following points in your state for the rendezvous of this force, viz: Knoxville, Nashville, Jackson, Trenton, and Memphis. At each of these places officers will be in readiness to muster in companies, battalions, and regiments, as soon as organized, for the war or for twelve months, as they decide to serve. At these designated places provision will be made for supplies, and the instruction of the troops will be prosecuted until they can be armed and prepared to move to the frontier.

The proportion of troops to be ordered to these different points, depending upon the districts from which the volunteers are drawn, I leave to the determination of your excellency, asking to be informed of the probable numbers you may be likely to assemble at each, in order that my preparations for their wants may be in proportion.

I am, with great respect, your obedient servant,

A. S. JOHNSTON, General.

CAMP BUCKNER, CUMBERLAND FORD, KY., September 21, 1861.

Lieutenant Colonel W. W. MACKALL, Assistant Adjutant-General, Nashville, Tenn.:

SIR: On examining this position carefully, I think it far from being as strong as I imagined when examining the drawing I showed to General Johnston. I have but one field battery, and no guns for a fixed battery. It will be difficult to prevent the turning the position if the enemy should have strategy. The country in advance is so hostile it is difficult to obtain any information. The few friends we have among the country people think a large force is advancing upon us at the distance of 20 or 30 miles. I have not been able to push my scouts farther for