of the enemy either made or deferred for the winter I will endeavor to have troops sent here, and then if I can get forage and subsistence, I will take the whole command to Bloomfield, so that I can drive in all small parties of the enemy from the Saint Francis to Little River and occasionally threaten their strongholds at Cape Girardeau and Ironton; or if the winter sets in, so that troops cannot be marched from the Cape, I may trust a small force at Bloomfield; but now it is certainly north of our van of operations, and will only tempt the enemy instead of intimating him. You have certainly found out by this time that there are many stories in Stoddard County, and the enemy has no difficulty in finding out all about your position and strength.

You can inform your men for me that I fighting for the "cause," and not for Stoddard County alone, and that, if they attempt to mutiny or desert, it can but result to their injury. I am disposed to be as lenient as possible, and from my very heart I sympathize with them in their hardships; but the whole country is now at stake, and the next few days will end the campaign for the winter, and even now it is getting to be a war of endurance instead of a war of guns, and, if our men are to be withered by the first cold breeze and return from the field the first windy night, then, indeed, will the energy of the North succeed, and we will have to "hang our harp on the willow tree."

I will make every effort to expedite the paying off of the men and arrange for the transfer to the Confederate States; then all who want to go home can do so and stay there. I send you by Major Powers an assortment of muster and pay rolls. The muster and pay rolls should be made for the 1st of November, at which time the Confederate States commence paying us. The pay rolls will embrace the time up to November 1. I am printing a general order about our settlements, which will be out soon. Any explanation you desire will be cheerfully made. There will be a large lot of goods here in a few days; some we have now. Make your men cut lots of wood and run large camp-fires. Send over the gunsmith's tools which you have not issued. I will establish a shop here. If your doctors are giving leaves of absence to men who are not sick, or if those who have recovered do not return, report them to me.

Yours, truly,

M. JEFF. THOMPSON,

Brigadier-General, Commanding.

HDQRS. FIRST MIL. DIST., MISSOURI STATE GUARD,
Camp New Madrid, Mo., November 24, 1861.

Colonel SOLON BORLAND, C. S. A.,

Commandant, Pocahontas, Ark.:

DEAR SIR: Yours of the 17th instant, by Mr. McDowell, was handed me this day, and if affords me much pleasure to accept your invitation and write to you upon the impression I have of the policy of the enemy at that time. I really think that their whole efforts should be (and therefore will be) concentrated to the seaboard and the immediate valley of the Mississippi. They cannot make their soldiers go on a hostile country when they know that we have the sympathy of the people and every advantage. Their force will be soldiers who will come to stay and will have to transport their entire subsistence for a campaign, whereas our forces, to combat or