be of much assistance to you. The other gentleman I am not personally acquainted with.

Colonel Autry, military commander of Vicksburg, has been ordered to afford you all the assistance in his power in the collection of men and materials for the construction of said works. About 1,000 negroes have been ordered to report to you, with their tools, &c., immediately, but should you not be able to procure them otherwise you will impress them at once.

You must put forth all your energy to complete these works as soon as practicable and report their progress every week.

Respectfully, your obedient servant,

G. T. BEAUREGARD,

General, Commanding.

HEADQUARTERS SUB-MILITARY DISTRICT OF HOUSTON,
Beaumont, Tex., September 26, 1862.

Captain C. M. MASON,

Acting Assistant Adjutant-General, &c.:

CAPTAIN: I reached this place yesterday at 3 p. m. with 743 men of Elmore's regiment.

Please find herewith Colonel Spright's report* on the late events at Sabine Pass. I concur with him in the belief that a large force could have done no more than Major Irvine's command, having no guns of sufficient range to answer those of the enemy. The engine and rolling stock on the Sabine Pass Railroad are all safe. I have received information (not very reliable) that the enemy landed a force variously estimated at from 15 to 100 men, who hoisted the United States flag at Sabine Pass and signified their will to procure beeves, by purchase or otherwise,promising the inhabitants, whole number has been considerable reduced by death and escape, the they would not hard them if not interfered with by us.

I sent upon my arrival some scouts, whose return I expect some time to-day. I intend also to reconnoiter the country between here and Sabine Pass on the railroad, represented to me to be the only route by which access can be had through the marshes that surround that place. Colonel Spaight's command is reuniting fast upon the news of the presence of the enemy. I will send his mounted men to drive off the beeves from the neighborhood of Sabine Pass. I shall also send to Orange a company or two of infantry to protect the railroad and several hundred bales of cotton deposited there from forays by small parties up the river. I believe, if the reports of the scouts and the reconnaissance I intend to make confirm reports already received, that Spaight's battalion will be sufficient to resist the enemy if the intends to commit depredations up the river. I would then return to Houston with Elmore's regiment, the detachment of Griffin's battalion, and Wilson's battery, whose services may be required at some other point on the coast. Should it turn out that the enemy will hold permanently the bay, thus cutting us off effective from that port, which has proved to be so valuable, the only way to prevent him from making forays on the Sabine and Nechez will be to lay at the mouths of these rivers obstructions that cannot be easily removed. Colonel Gentry, who has kindly

See p. 144.