may have through General Bee discretionary power to act as my judgment may direct in the management of my battalion, at the same time to act with prudence, and only attack or defend where there is a prospect of success.

If the general orders to be put in commission the water forces referred to I will await his orders, and if the eastern fleet needs a good pilot from this place I will send one who can be relied on, though I need his services here.

It is humiliating to us to see in our bay a small force of the enemy and we have not the means to attack or destroy them.

I have the honor to be, most respectfully, your obedient servant,

DAN. D. SHEA,

Major, Commanding Artillery Battalion.

SPECIAL ORDERS, ADJT. AND INSP. GENERAL'S OFFICE, No. 12.
Richmond, Va., January 15, 1863.

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XII. Major General J. B. Magruder, commanding District of Texas, will turn over to Lieutenant Commanding J. N. Barney, C. S. Navy, the steamer Harriet Lane, lately captured in the waters of Texas.

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By command of the Secretary of War:

JNO. WITHERS,
Assistant Adjutant-General.

GOLIAD, TEX., January 17, 1 863.

Captain EDMUND P. TURNER,

Acting Assistant Adjutant-General, Houston:

SIR: A copy of a communication from His Excellency the Governor of the State of Texas, under date of January 12, 1863, has been forwarded from my headquarters at San Antonio for the perusal of the general commanding.

As the protection of the frontier of Texas from Indian depredations is a very important and sensitive question, I would respectfully inquire if it is the wish of the general commanding that I should still continue to be charged with that duty. The great distance of my contemplated headquarters at Brownsville from this responsibility may induce the naming of another officer for that duty; and in the mean time I would state that there will be six companies of mounted men left on the Indian frontier after removing the five companies of the State regiment, as ordered by the general commanding, to proceed to the Rio Grande, which if increased to 100 men each will, I think, be sufficient to give as much protection as the frontier has ever had; and I would respectfully recommend that the colonel of the State regiment, after it is mustered into the Confederate service, be placed specially in charge of that line, and be held responsible for such disposition of his command as his practical knowledge of the frontier will enable him to make; then, with the necessary orders to the quartermaster, commissary, and ordnance departments, to keep the command abundantly supplied with the necessary supplies, I think the expectations of the country will be met.

shall (if not otherwise directed), so soon as I am informed of the