ordered to report in writing to these headquarters without delay, giving their names, commands, and the nature of the service to which they are assigned, and stating the date of their assignment and by whose authority made.

By command of Lieutenant-General Polk:

THOS. M. JACK,

Assistant Adjutant-General.

GREENEVILLE, March 9, 1864.

General S. COOPER,

Adjutant and Inspector General:

There is not corn enough here to feed the transportation animals of the Hampton Legion from this to Asheville, and nothing on the road. Please send us corn and meat enough to take us somewhere, unless we can be supplied to make a campaign from here.

J. LONGSTREET,

Lieutenant-General.

RICHMOND, March 9, 1864.

Lieutenant-General LONGSTREET,

Commanding, &c., Greeneville, Tenn.:

GENERAL: I have had the honor to received your note of the 5th instant, and reply without delay. Fully realizing the importance of, and sympathizing with, the views you entertain as to the importance of the campaign soon to open, it is painful to me to feel conscious that this Department cannot accumulate such supplies as will place our armies in the field under the most favored circumstances. I am willing to be stimulated to the discharge of my duties to the full extent, and especially, general, by one who has so much at heart the true interest of the country as yourself. As our objects are the same, I trust our conclusions will not differ when they are based upon the facts of the case. I confess that I was not a little disconcerted when I first learned that it was necessary to ship corn to your command. This corn practically comes from Georgia whether sent from a depot in Virginia or not, for Virginia is out of corn except to a limited extent. Last year at this time no corn was brought to Virginia from any point beyond North Carolina, and the army was subsisted on wheat flour. Now nearly all the corn used for horses is borough from Georgia, and the Subsistence Department has consumed all the flour and relies upon corn to be ground up into meal for the bread of the army. To supply all this will require all the available rolling-stock of all the roads between this and Georgia, without allowing for the frequent disturbance caused by the movement of troops and raids of the enemy, &c.

You perceive, therefore, what a task there is before us, and how impossible it is to accumulate supplies at points so distant (by circuitous railroads) from the point of production. Supplies of forage to a limited extent are now going forward to you, but I replied to your dispatch in such plain terms because I feared you might be deceived as to our ability to accomplish what you desire.

If the passenger trains are all stopped what becomes of the fur-