OPERATIONS IN KENTUCKY AND TENNESSEE. [CHAP.XII.

NASHVILLE, TENN., November 17, 1861.

General A. SIDNEY JOHNSTON:

The following just received from General Pillow at Columbus:

Immense numbers of enemy are gathering on my front. I anticipate being entirely surrounded and cut off from supplies as fairly within the range of probabilities. The works at Fort Pillow are nearly completed and are entirely defensible. My force at Union City is entirely too weak to protect that flank. My judgment is that you should call out the militia of West Tennessee, should place 10,000 men in Fort Pillow, and the balance at Union City or that vicinity. I mean, of course, such as have arms. The works at Fort Pillow should be supplied with powder. We are very short here. We will hold the place and fight to the end; but I should be false to my duty to the country did I not place before you my sense of the danger with which it is menaced.

If you concur in the opinion of General Pillow, I will call out the militia at any moment.

ISHAM G. HARRIS.

HEADQUARTERS WESTERN DEPARTMENT, Bowling Green, Ky., November 17, 1861.

Brigadier General LLOYD TILGHMAN, Hopkinsville, Ky.:

In turning over your command at Hopkinsville, in pursuance of Special Orders, Numbers 89, you will repair to the Cumberland, and assume command of Forts Donelson and Henry and their defenses and the defenses of the intermediate country. You will push forward the completion of the works and their armament with the utmost activity, and to this end will apply to the citizens of the surrounding country for assistance in labor, for which you will give them certificates for amounts due for such labor. You will make your requisitions for quartermaster, subsistence, and ordnance stores upon the chiefs of the several departments at these headquarters.

The utmost vigilance is enjoined. The general regrets to hear that there has been heretofore gross negligence in this respect-the commander at Fort Donelson away from his post nightly and the officer in charge of the field batteries frequently absent. This cannot be tolerated.

I will ask Governor Harris to-morrow for four additional armed companies, which be will send to Fort Donelson. These, with the six companies now there, will make up a regiment, when organized by the election of field officers. The colonel will command the fort.

You will then order Lieutenant-Colonel MacGavock to return to his regiment at Fort Henry. Your command is embraced in the division of Major-General Polk, to whom you will report monthly.

By command of General Johnston:

W. W. MACKALL, Assistant Adjutant-General.

HDQRS. FIRST DIVISION, WESTERN DEPARTMENT, Columbus, Ky., November 17, 1861.

Colonel DIXON, Memphis, Tenn.:

We are soon, very soon, to have an immense force on our front, and anticipate being entirely surrounded, and probably cut off from the country south of us. Their forces are now accumulating rapidly. If your legion intends at any period of time coming to the help of the country, it is now of the highest importance they should act. Your safety below would be greatly increased by throwing your legion into