with instructions to arrest all soldiers improperly absent from our army that be found in that country; to treat the marauders of Prentice's command with the utmost severity, and to burn all the horses occupied by public women. Captain Barrett will remain there as long as his detachment can be foraged and subsisted.

I am, major, most respectfully, your obedient servant,

H. L. GILTNER,

Colonel, Commanding Brigade.

[Indorsement.]

Referred to General Echols for attention. If necessary, this command will have to be broken up.

J. C. BRECKINRIDGE.

[Inclosure No. 1.]

Colonel GILTNER:

DEAR SIR: You will see from the statements of the within petition that a bad state of things is getting up in our county, and unless some steps are taken to put a stop to it I fear something severe will grow out of it. What is done should be done quickly to be in time. I have had nothing to do with the matter, but it is among my neighbors, and at their request I came as far as Mr. Shoemaker's to see you, and would have come on only that my family are unwell. The petition, from the best information I have, states the truth, and you may rely upon the statements of Mr. Vaughan and Mr. Monk, who will hand you this paper. I trust you will adopt some means to have those men removed from the neighborhood.

Most respectfully,

W. B. ASTON.

[Sub-inclosure.]

Colonel H. GILNER,

Commanding, &c.:

The undersigned citizens of Russell County, protesting that they are good, loyal, and peaceable citizens of the Confederacy, would most respectfully represent that a few men professing to belong to the command of Colonel C. J. Prentice have congregated together in the lower end of Castlewoods, in Russell County, a number of bad women, where they stay together for unlawful purposes and keep a most disorderly house or houses; that they have gone through the neighborhood of Copper Ridge and other places and wantonly robbed various good and lawful citizens of their provisions, clothing, bed-clothing, stock, &c., and carried them to those women for their support. To such an extent has this thing been carried on that the whole neighborhood was in continual dread and alarm for their lives and property, as some of the same company have, or are believed to have, committed sundry murders in the country. In view of this state of things, and to try to put a stop to its continuance, a few of the citizens a few nights ago assembled together and went for the purpose of trying to break up the bad houses above named and to secure back some of the stolen property in their possession, and they burned up one of the houses in which they were congregated and recovered back some of the stolen property, and in the encounter a man by the name of Fletcher, a ringleader of the band, was killed by a soldier that had gone along with the citizens. Your petitioners now understand that, instead of desisting from their unlawful practices, the said party are now making arrangements to take revenge upon the citizens by killing, and burning their houses-ten for one, as