pickets and vedettes, and to scour the country between the brigade pickets. Such patrols must always be compact military bodies, furnished with the countersign that no accident may occur from contact with other guards and patrols. All guards and pickets will be subject to the inspection, visit, and control of a general officer of the day, to be detailed daily from headquarters.

General Hurlbut will regulate his cavalry pickets and patrols and cause them to be advanced well toward the Nonconah.

The Fourth Illinois Cavalry is hereby attached for picket duty to General Smith's brigade, who will cause it to picket and scout well the country forward toward White's Station, on the State Line road.

The commanding general will use the reserve cavalry for for scouting in all directions, but this must not be any excuse for relaxation on the part of the officers hereinbefore named. Every officer in command of a regiment or detachment will now see that his men are well provided with clothing, provisions, arms, ammunition, canteens, haversacks, and everything which his own experience has shown him is necessary for the efficiency of the soldiers. Every sentinel must be fully armed and equipped, and to this end regular guard mountings and inspections must precede the posting of all guards.

Officers of the day and commanders of guards have a right, and should not hesitate to use it, of refusing men improperly dressed or equipped. Their duties are very important and they should see that their details are composed of good men, properly provided in all respects.

All officers of this command must now study their books; ignorance of duty must no longer be pleaded. The commanding general has the power at any time to order a board to examine the acquirements and capacity of any officer, and he will not fail to exercise it. Should any officer, high or low, after the opportunity and experience we have had, be ignorant of his tactics, regulations, or even of the principles of the Art of War (Mahan and Jomini), it would be a lasting disgrace.

By order of Major General W. T. Sherman:

J. H. HAMMOND,

Assistant Adjutant-General.

HEADQUARTERS ARMY OF THE MISSISSIPPI, July 25, 1862.

General McPHERSON, Corinth:

The following from General Morgan:

I need 100 wagons in addition to my present regimental wagons. I cannot depend at all upon the railroad for transportation.

We have no wagons to give him, and his move was based on the assumption that the railroad would serve them. What is the matter?

We shall require 900 pounds of forage and rations per day for that command, and the average haul will be the distance from Iuka to Tuscumbia. Can we have it without fail? Please answer.

W. S. ROSECRANS,
Brigadier-General, U. S. Army, Commanding.

HEADQUARTERS ARMY OF THE MISSISSIPPI, July 25, 1862.

General MORGAN, Tuscumbia:

Your dispatch does not say where troops were cut off nor where they were. It does not tell us where our cavalry is nor the news to the front,