has received commissions. As they can receive on funds until bonded, serious inconvenience will result to the service by delay. Application for their appointment should be forwarded at once through this office, and I suggest that the officers themselves to Richmond to obtain them in person.

Respectfully, your obedient servant,

E. KIRBY SMITH,

Major-General, Commanding.

[Inclosure.]

GENERAL ORDERS,
WAR DEPARTMENT, S. & I. G. O.,

Numbers 16.
Richmond, March 24, 1862.

All leaves of absence and furloughs, from whatever source obtained, are revoked; and officers and men absent from duty, except on surgeon's certificate of disability, will return at once to their respective commands. It is with extreme reluctance that the Department adopts a measure which deprives our patriotic soldiers of the relaxation they have so well earned; but the enemy presses on every side, and the necessities of the service demand new illustrations of that noble selfdenial which has been so many times evinced since the commencement of our struggle for independence. The furloughs of all who have engaged for the war, which are thus curtailed, will be extended hereafter, when circumstances permit. But, judging from the past, no fears are entertained of an unwilling response to this call. Those who have so many times proved their devotion to their country cannot be indifferent or backward in this hour of her greatest need.

By order of the President:

S. COOPER,

Adjutant and Inspector General.

RICHMOND, VA., April 5, 1862.

General A. SIDNEY JOHNSTON,

Corinth, Miss.:

Your dispatch of yesterday received.* I hope you will be able to close with the enemy before his two columns unite. I anticipate victory.

Brigadier-generals have been recently appointed; among them Bowen. Do you require others?

JEFFERSON DAVIS.

HEADQUARTERS, Fort Pillow, Tenn., April 6, 1862.

Colonel THOMAS JORDAN,
Assistant Adjutant-General, Army of the Mississippi:

COLONEL: A few days ago I received a copy of Special Orders, Numbers 10, current series, from the headquarters of the Army of the Mississippi, requiring a detailed report of the condition of the regiments, battalions, &c., comprising my command. I have concluded to embody it

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*Not found. Reference is probably to dispatch of April 3, p. 387.

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