with the white men. I believe your brigade adapted to carrying on a desultory kind of warfare than to acting in masses, and, being in a country with which they are familiar, they can keep watch of the enemy's movements, while Gano's brigade is prepared to meet him upon whatever line of advance he may choose. You can assure Major [M.] Le Flore and all others interested that I shall not of my own option remove our soldiers from the Indian Territory, and that I have received no such orders from competent authority.

Your obedient servant,

WM. STEELE,

Brigadier-General.

HEADQUARTERS TRANS-MISSISSIPPI DEPARTMENT,
Shreveport, La., November 9, 1863.

Lieutenant General T. H. HOLMES,

Commanding District of Arkansas:

GENERAL: In reply to your letter from Judge Watkins, dated November 7, 1863, I am directed by Lieutenant-General Smith to say that he knows it is the policy of the Government to destroy all cotton likely to fall into the enemy's hand, but great dissatisfaction has been created by wanton and unnecessary burning of cotton which might have been otherwise saved and removed to a place of safety. This feeling of dissatisfaction in good and loyal citizens has been so repeatedly brought before them that he much doubts the policy of burning cotton unless there is a certainty of its falling into the hands of the enemy. He hereby revokes Paragraph IX, Special Orders, No. 176, making the exceptions in Drew and Ashley Counties, and will leave the matter entirely to your discretion. He thinks that by the brigade which has been ordered to operate on the Mississippi River the illicit traffic spoken of can be prevented, and the cotton may be destroyed when it becomes an absolute necessity. He will leave the matter to your judgment, and to be governed by your orders.

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

W. R. BOGGS,

Brigadier-General and Chief of Staff.

HDQRS. DEPARTMENT OF THE INDIAN TERRITORY,
Camp Sabine, November 9, 1863.

Colonel S. S. ANDERSON,

Assistant Adjutant-General, Trans-Mississippi Department:

COLONEL: I have the honor to report that I have withdrawn Gano's brigade from the vicinity of Fort Smith, on account of the inclement weather, the want of clothing, and the increasing difficulty of supplying troops so far in advance of my depots. I had previously transferred De Morse's regiment and Howell's battery from Cooper's to Gano's brigade, leaving only a weak battalion of whites with Cooper, who has been directed to avoid an engagement, but to harass the enemy by cutting off his small parties. General Cooper represents the Indians as much excited by what they think is the withdrawal of the white troops to the coast of Texas. The Texas troops, suffering for want of proper clothing for the season, were commencing to desert. They could not have been kept where they were. The Indian troops, habituated to being deceived, think, their country is to be abandoned. Between the