claimed by the Confederacy in the abstraction of all military force from my orders by the Confederate Government, I respectfully urge upon you to take such measures for the arrest of these disloyal men as will secure them to the Confederate service, and relieve the apprehensions of the loyal citizens of that section, and especially the unprotected families of absent soldiers.

There are other circumstances in this connection to which I ask your attention. It is reported to me, with what truth I cannot vouch, that these men have been supplied with ammunition by furloughed soldiers of the commands of Captains Curry and Tanner, stationed near Campbellton. I have also been informed by a letter from a gentleman of high standing, a citizen of this State, that men, belonging to this band and deserters from other commands have recently enlisted in the companies above named. This gentlemen saw Colonel Montgomery at Marianna, and represented the matter to him, and was informed that such men would be rendered up on claim, with descriptive roll. This it would be impossible for me to furnish, nor do I know that it is desired by the officers whose commands they have deserted.

The recent proclamation of the President affords every inducement to misguided men to return to their proper commands, and I fear that if such men are held outside of their true commands, and retained in the same neighborhood, the fear of future punishment, and the feeling of their disloyal hearts, will induce them again to seek refuge in the swamps, and again they will become a terror to the neighborhood.

I most respectfully but earnestly urge you to take such measures as may be in your power to remove and remedy these evils, and promise you all the co-operations in my power to render.

Very respectfully,

JNO. GILL SHORTER,

Governor of Alabama.

SPECIAL ORDERS,
HDQRS. DEPT. S. C., GA., AND FLA., Numbers 156.
Charleston, S. C., August 11, 1863.

I. Persons arriving in this harbor from any part of the United States will not be permitted to quit the ship upon which they may have been brought into the country until specially authorized by these headquarters.

II. The masters of all vessels in the trade between this city and Nassau, or other foreign ports, are forbidden to receive on board and transport to this place any person or persons whatever, without a written permit or passport, signed by Major L. Heyliger, Confederate States agent at the port of Nassau, or other regular agent of the Confederate States at the last foreign port from which the ship may have cleared.

III. Parties engaged in importing merchandise into this port are earnestly advised against introducing any articles manufactured or purchased in the United States, excepting military supplies or munitions, or such articles of prime necessity as are almost exclusively produced or fabricated by our enemy. Unless importers recognize the propriety of this course, and conform to it in good faith, it will become the duty of the authorities to intervene with measures for the inhibition of a commerce contrary to the rules of war; but it is