organized. You are well aware of the trouble and dissatisfaction caused by these changes, and I hope none will be made. In a few days I hope to have the organization complete, and move off in the direction indicated by General Bragg.

General, I remain, your obedient servant,

N. B. FORREST,

Brigadier-General.

SPECIAL ORDERS,
HEADQUARTERS BRECKINRIDGE'S DIVISION,

Numbers 38.
Murfreesborough, December 3, 1862.

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II. Commandant of Rogers' scouts, with his company, will report as soon as practicable to Brigadier-General Wheeler, at La Vergne, for duty.

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By command of Major-General Breckinridge:

JOHN A. BUCKNER,

Lieutenant-Colonel and Assistant Adjutant-General.

CHATTANOOGA, TENN., December 4, 1862.

General S. COOPER,

Adjutant and Inspector General:

SIR: I have received this morning your telegram of yesterday, informing me that Lieutenant-General Pemberton is falling back before a very superior force; that Lieutenant-General Holmes has been "peremptorily ordered' to re-enforce him, but that as General Holmes' troops may be too late, the President urges on me the importance of sending a sufficient force from General Bragg's command to the aid of Lieutenant-General Pemberton.

Three railroad accidents delayed my journey so much that I did not reach this place until after 12 last night; consequently your dispatch was delivered to-day, too late for communication with General Bragg before to-morrow, when I shall visit his headquarters.

I do not know General Pemberton's late positions. His march, I suppose, will be toward Vicksburg, where General Holmes' troops must cross the river. His movements, therefore, are facilitating the junction, while they daily render that of General Bragg with him more difficult. The enemy, too, is exactly between and latter and himself. It seems to me, consequently, that the aid of General Holmes can better be relied on than that of General Bragg. I therefore respectfully suggest that that officer be urged to the utmost expedition. Should the enemy get possession of Vicksburg, we cannot dislodge him. The Tennessee River is a formidable obstacle to the expeditious march of General Bragg's troops into Mississippi. He may, besides, be compelled to take a circuitous route; of this, however, I am not fully informed, nor have I learned the enemy's attitude in Tennessee. It is to be presumed that all such information can be acquired at General Bragg's headquarters, which I shall reach to-morrow.

Most respectfully, your obedient servant,

J. E. JOHNSTON,

General.