command if infantry is sent out. I want a large train stationed at once at Pocahontas in readiness to move 2,000 troops, if necessary, on the railroad, and a train, if possible, at La Grange for the same purpose. Please answer.

E. A. CARR,

Brigadier-General.

CHATTANOOGA, TENN.,

September 12, 1863-12.15 p. m.

(Received 8. 40 p. m.)

Major-General HALLECK:

I think it would be very unwise for General Burnside, in present attitude of affairs, to make any move in the direction of North Carolina. It would leave my left flank entirely unprotected, and open the way into Kentucky.* All forces should be concentrated in this direction. I trust I am sufficient for the enemy now in my front, but, should he fall back to the line of Coosa, the roads from there are short and comparatively good to the Tennessee, while it is necessary for me to cross two ranges of mountains, over very narrow, rough, and difficult roads, to reach the Tennessee, and then move from 30 to 50 miles to reach the flank of a column moving from Gunter's Landing or Whitesburg on Nashville. It is desirable to have the avenue shut up. Can you not send a force from the Army of the Tennessee to do it?

W. S. ROSECRANS,

Major-General.

CHATTANOOGA, TENN.,

September 12, 1863.

(Received 5 p. m.)

Major General H. W. HALLECK,

General-in-Chief:

Hurlbut dispatches that country south of Corinth is full of irregular +cavalry. He is induced to believe that a general movement of all the available force of the enemy is being made on this army. Hurlbut ought to cover that flank. It is reported, from several sources, that even Loring's division has been moved up, and is at Atlanta. Burnside ought to send his infantry down in this direction. The enemy has concentrated at La Fayette, and has attacked one of Thomas' columns in the Chickamauga Valley, west of Dug Gap, compelling it to fall back to Stevens' Gap.

W. S. ROSECRANS,

Major-General, Commanding.

GENERAL ORDERS, HDQRS. DEPT. OF THE CUMBERLAND,

Numbers 224. Chattanooga, Tenn., September 12, 1863.

To secure the greater efficiency of courier lines, and to insure promptitude in the delivery of dispatches, it is ordered:

That all quartermasters in this department shall cause the horses of couriers to be promptly shod, in preference to any other work, as

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*General Halleck's copy reads "all the way into Kentucky."

+General Rosecrans' copy reads "regular cavalry."

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36 R R-VOI XXX, PT III