order. It is presumed from your note that the transportation will be by rail. The division quartermaster will proceed at once to ascertain at Abbeville what trains may be had. Transportation for five brigades will be needed, with six or seven days' subsistence, ammunition in boxes, twenty-one field pieces, and the usual camp equipage. I have about 250 wagons and 2,000 animals. If by wagon train, I am now ready to move; if by rail, as soon as the trains arrive. Let your quartermaster report to Major A. Boyd, division quartermaster, at these headquarters, as to what transportation can be had.

W. PRESTON,

Brigadier General, Commanding Reserve Corps, Army of the Miss.

SPECIAL ORDERS,
HDQRS. FIRST CORPS, ARMY OF THE MISS., Number 75. Camp near Tupelo, Miss., June 23, 1862.

* * * * * * *

V. Captain John L. Saffarans, acting commissary of subsistence, is hereby authorized to burn cotton that is in danger of falling into the hands of the enemy and to give certificates to that effect to the owners of the cotton. The certificate must state as briefly as possible the imminence of the danger of the cotton being seized by the enemy, and must state the number of bales, the mark, and weight in pounds, if practicable.

By command of Major-General Polk:

GEORGE WILLIAMSON,
Assistant Adjutant-General.

JUNE 23, 1862.

General WILLIAM PRESTON,

Abbeville:

General Van Dorn has ordered that your troops proceed with least possible delay to Vicksburg. Copy of last telegram will be furnished. Transportation by rail has been sent you to-night for at least two brigades. Rations have been ordered for ten days. Your mule teams will be disposed of by orders to-morrow morning. Prompt action in necessary.

DANIEL RUGGLES,

Brigadier-General, C. S. Army.

RICHMOND, VA., June 24, 1862.

Gov. JOHN J. PETTUS,

Jackson, Miss.:

Your letter of 11th received. Your request for arms and buck-shot had been complied with to the extent of our power. Have just received some long-range rifles, from which a further supply will be sent. Buckshot might be supplied from Columbus; to be made if not on hand.

JEFFERSON DAVIS.

TUPELO, June 24, 1862.

General VILLEPIGUE:

The commander of the forces directs that as General Ruggles has left the limits of the department you are assigned to the command of the sub-department along the Mississippi Central Railroad and to the last from the Tallahatchie River to the thirty-third parallel of latitude.

THOMAS JORDAN,

Chief of Staff and Assistant Adjutant-General.