confidence to the fullest extent, and we respectfully ask that you will place him in position free and untrammeled, in full command of all the military forces operating in any way in the Indian country, and then, with the blessing of Divine Providence on our cause, we fully believe all will be safe. We need not tell you that the man of our choice is our well-tried friend, Brigadier General D. H. Cooper, now in command of the Indian brigade. We respectfully ask his appointment to this position because we believe him to be in every respect worthy and well qualified; because we believe him to be the true friend of the Indian people, as most fully proved during the term of years he has been with us as Indian agent, as well as general in the field, evincible a character of unbending integrity and truth; because no man can command the confidence of the Indian people as he can, nor lead them so successfully to victory. Nor is this confidence confined to the Indian people, but confidence in Cooper is the voice of Northern Texas; because he is a true patriot, no mercenary, no Northern man with Southern principles, but a true son of the South, with true patriotism imbedded in his heart-a heart devoted to his country's independence; because he has proved himself wise in council, able in the field, firm, prudent, courageous, kind to his men, commanding implicit obedience with high respect, no tyrant; in short, because we believe him to possess full qualifications for the position we ask for him, and more competent than any other to fill it.

Sir, our prayer is that you will grant our request speedily, as the only means now in your hands to repair in any degree the injuries we have suffered, and then, as with one heart, we will rush to his standard and drive the Vandals from our soil, and though it will be a desolated country, yet it will again be our homes, and the hand of industry will make it rich. But, sir, deny us this, our only request, and hope dies, and we and our country are lost.

Resolved by the Legislature of the Chickasaw Nation, That this petition, hereby addressed to the Secretary of War for the Southern Confederacy by the Indian people, praying the promotion of General D. H. Cooper to full command of their forces of this country, speaks the true sentiments of the Chickasaw people, and is unanimously concurred in and desired by both houses of the Legislature.

Passed the House of Representatives October 7, 1863.

WILLIAM McLISH,

Speaker of the House of Representatives.

CYRUS HARRIS,

Clerk of the House of Representatives.

Passed the Senate October 7, 1863.

WILLIAM KEMP,

President of the Senate.

COLBERT CARTER,

Secretary of the Senate.

Approved October 7, 1863.

WINCHESTER COLBERT,

Governor of Chickasaw Nation.

Attest:

WILLIAM F. HARRISON,

National Secretary.

1. Be it resolved by the General Council of the Choctaw Nation in council assembled, That it is the wish of this nation of people that General Douglas H. Cooper, now brigadier-general commanding, in the absence