OFFICE CHIEF QUARTERMASTER, Meridian, Miss., November 14, 1863.

Major W. H. DAMERON,

Chief Commissary of Subsistence, Meridian:

MAJOR: Your letter of 10th instant has been received. Your various communications, as well as the substance of your personal interview with me, have been submitted to General Johnston from time to time as they occurred.

The transportation under my control has been accumulated for the immediate use of General Johnston's army in the field, though he has directed me whenever it is not immediately required there, to aid the other departments as far as possible. He, therefore, desires to know what amount and what class of stores you with transported; what amount of transportation you can keep actively engaged, and for what length of time and between what points. I will also refer you to Major A. M. Paxton, who is the quartermaster to whom the War Department has specially assigned the collection and purchase of all transportation for the States of Alabama and Mississippi. His headquarters are at Brandon. You should apply to him, though as far as I am able, and without neglect of General Johnston's army, I will aid your necessities.

Very respectfully,

ALFRED M. BARBOUR,

Major, and Chief Quartermaster, General J. E. Johnston.

OFFICE CHIEF COMMISSARY FOR MISSISSIPPI, Meridian, November 14, 1863.

Major A. M. BARBOUR,

Chief Quartermaster:

MAJOR: Your communication of this date in answer to mine of the 100th instant has been received. It was upon assurances made me some time since and now repeated in your letter, that General Johnston had directed you to aid this department with the transportation not required for his army, that my several verbal and written requests have been made upon you. Since the 28th September this aid has been frequently promised to me, but never yet obtained. The communications from me upon this subject and the substance of our personal interviews having been submitted by you to the commanding general, in answer to his queries, what amount of transportation I can keep actively employed and for what length of time, to transport what amount and what class of stores and between what points, I can only repeat what I have before stated, that seventy-five wagons are needed to haul sugar and molasses from Brookhaven to Brandon; that the quantity of these stores now at or on the way to Brookhaven will keep these teams employed for thirty days-if the condition of the roads does not render the transportation impracticable before the expiration of that time. There are now about 1,000 or 1,200 hogsheads of sugar to be brought from that section. The value of these stores to the Confederacy, the lateness of the season, the condition of the country from which the stores are to be secured, now free from the presence of the enemy-these causes have led me to urge prompt action in the matter, and my requests have been made upon you in the belief that you were