the outposts were engaged on Bayou Meto, 12 miles from Little Rock. Lieutenant-General Smith directs that boats be kept in readiness to move Walker's division, if required,to this point.

I remain, general, very respectfully, your obedient servant,

W. R. BOGGS,

Brigadier-General and Chief of Staff.

SPECIAL ORDERS,
ADJT. AND INSPECTOR GENERAL'S OFFICE, No. 202.
Richmond, August 26, 1863.

* * * * * *

XV. Brigadier General Thomas F. Drayton, Provisional Army of the Confederate States, will proceed without delay to Little Rock, Ark., and report to Lieutenant General T. H. Holmes for assignment to duty.

* * * * * *

By command of the Secretary of War:

JNO. WITHERS,
Assistant Adjutant-General.

GENERAL ORDERS,
HDQRS. TRANS-MISSISSIPPI DEPARTMENT, No. 38.
Shreveport, La., August 26, 1863.

In accordance with the proclamation of the President a general pardon and amnesty is hereby granted to all officers and soldiers now absent without leave in the Trans-Mississippi Department who will return to duty by the 30th day of September proximo.

Officers and enlisted men in the Trans-Mississippi Department whose commands are east of the Mississippi River will, under this amnesty, report as follows, viz: Those from Arkansas, at the camp of instruction at Washington, and district headquarters; from Texas, at Bonham and Houston; from Louisiana, at Shreveport and district headquarters; and will be permitted to attach themselves to any regiment of their own corps now serving in this department.

This amnesty and pardon shall also extend to all who have been convicted and are undergoing sentence for absence without leave or desertion, excepting only those who have been twice convicted thereof.

By command of Lieutenant General K. Kirby Smith:

S. S. ANDERSON,

Assistant Adjutant-General.

HDQRS. DEPARTMENT OF THE INDIAN TERRITORY, Camp on East Boggy,near Aleck McKinney's, [August 27, 1863.]

Captain W. H. WOOTEN:

CAPTAIN: I inclose herewith three very important orders,* which you will please address and transmit, without a moment's delay, to the officers in General Bankhead's brigade who may be commanding troops or artillery separately. Should General Bankhead be at Boggy or at one of the nearest camps, you will deliver the whole package to him. I leave one of the orders open, so that you may see its important character. It is rumored that the Creeks are en route for Boggy Depot by another

---------------

*Three copies of one order.

---------------