MUNFORDVILLE, October 9, 1863.

Lieutenant FARMER,

Elizabethtown:

Bridges Nos. 2 and 3 on Valley Creek should be guarded. Six or 8 men in each stockade will be sufficient force to defend bridge against guerrillas. It is of the utmost importance to save all bridges on the line. Send guard to each point immediately.

E. H. HOBSON,

Brigadier-General.

WASHINGTON, October 9, 1863.

General S. P. CARTER,

Knoxville, E. Tenn.:

GENERAL: Your telegram to Colonel Hoffman, of the 5th instant, has been submitted to the Secretary of War, who directs me to say that should any of rebel army referred to be taken prisoners they must be treated as prisoners of war. The circumstances connected with the declaration of their exchange is a subject which will be dealt with here.

E. A. HITCHCOCK,

Major General of Vols., Commissioner for Exchange of Prisoners.

HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF THE TENNESSEE,
Vicksburg, Miss., October 10, 1863.

Major General J. B. McPHERSON,

Commanding Seventeenth Army Corps:

GENERAL: Headquarters, &c., will be removed to Nashville, Tenn. All forces south of Helena, black and white, will be removed under General McPherson, as commander of the District of Vicksburg.

Complaints are made that raids go out from the west bank of the river into Macon County and bring in cotton, thus endangering the crops and personal property of the inhabitants there to seizure and destruction by the rebels. This is unauthorized, and General Hawkins should be instructed to use every effort to put a stop to it.

It would be advisable to send Osband's cavalry to Skipwith's Landing to remain for a few weeks, to give protection to the few deserving people in that country, and also to fill up his regiment from the plantations around owned by persons of disloyalty. Send them through by land, crossing the Yazoo about the mouth of Sunflower. They should be instructed to treat the people with kindness. A few on that side have protection papers. Such persons should receive the full benefit of them.

Where planters have hired their negroes in accordance with established regulations, recruiting officers should refuse to receive or harbor them about their camps. The Duncans have hired theirs in that way.

Headquarters may be established in Louisville for the purpose of receiving all reports, &c. This will be fully determined probably at Cairo.

In regard to the expedition going out to Canton, special directions cannot be given for it. After reaching that place, I would like, however, that everything possible should be done to create the impression that the Ohio and Mississippi Railroad was in danger.