hold and occupy the country. These messengers were from the band of Jim Pockmark, Caddo and Anadarko chief. This is no idle rumor and requires immediate attention from our Government, or the frontier of Texas will be ravaged and the Indian Territory overrun. It is said that Jesse Chisolm and Black Beaver are with them. The season having been usually dry, has and will delay their time of starting. if they come this fall, they must leave Fort Bent on or before the 1st of November. I feel it my duty to give you this information at the earliest possible moment, as I fully believe that the expedition is [sic] or will take place this fall. I have written to Commissioner S. S. Scott on this subject, giving him the facts as herein stated.

Yours, respectfully,

C. B. JOHNSON.

HEADQUARTERS TRANS-MISSISSIPPI DEPARTMENT,
Shreveport, La., September 19, 1863.

Honorable R. M. JONES, Choctaw Nation:

SIR: I am directed by Lieutenant General E. Kirby Smith to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 10th instant (by Mr. Stark), and to say that, since he has been in the department, he has not received arms from the other side of the river. Every effort made by the War Department to send arms across the Mississippi has failed. A large number of arms intended for this department, a part of which were designed for the troops of the Indian Territory, were captured at Vicksburg. Immediately after he fall of Vicksburg, he was informed by the Secretary of War that one of the vessels of that department had been sent with arms to Texas, and a special agent (who brought the letter to him) was dispatched to receive them on that coast. Other efforts have been made by the Secretary of War and himself to procure arms, from which he expects good results. A vessel (the Goodyear), with arms for the Government, was captured off the Rio Grande by the French blockader, which the French authorities give assurances will be delivered up without delay, and that he is constantly looking for additional supplies of arms from other vessels en route for our posts. He assures you, and through you the people you represent, that he is and has been mindful of their condition,and his earnest desire to meet their necessities, and as soon as the arms are received he will cause them to be sent forward. He can now furnish ammunition, and encloses the order issued for sending the same by the way of Bonham.

Two regiments, with a battery, are on their way from Texas to the Indian Territory, and a battery is nearly ready to be sent there from here.

A victory over the forces now at Little Rock (which he expects to meet) will clear the Indian Territory of the enemy.

I have the honor to be, respectfully, &c.,

GUY M. BRYAN,

Major and Assistant Adjutant-General.

HDQRS. DEPARTMENT OF THE INDIAN TERRITORY,
September 19, 1863.

Brigadier General D. H. COOPER, Commanding, &c.:

GENERAL: General Steele left on day before yesterday for Bonham, at which place he calculates upon meeting General McCulloch in consultation.