ments interfere and the grass will suffice, I hope to be allowed to move into Pocahontas. You will please apprise the major-general, commanding of the disposition of my forces, &c.

Very respectfully, your obedient servant,

WM. L. JACKSON,

Colonel.

HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF WESTERN VIRGINIA,
April 17, 1864.

General S. COOPER,

Adjutant and Inspector General, Richmond, Va.:

GENERAL: The difficulties which have existed and now exist in regard to supplies for this department compel me again to address you. On this subject I respectfully refer you to my letter of the 30th of March last.

Attempting to follow the circular from the Commissary-General's Office, of July 15, 1863, Major King, my chief commissary, applied to Major Noland, chief purchasing agent for Virginia, and was by him referred to Major Cloyd, chief purchasing agent for this district. Major Cloyd expressed every desire to meet our wants, but said he was only purchasing agent, and his duties were exhausted when he bought supplies and turned them over to the post commissaries who would issue on requisition. My requisitions on these officers were not filled, sometimes because the purchasing agent hand not furnished supplies enough, and sometimes because those on hand were shipped out of the department by direct orders from the Commissary-General's Office. Major Noland also construed the duties of Major Cloyd differently from that officer, and by his orders Major C. sent out large supplies without turning them over to the post commissaries to be issued on requisition.

Mean time the case was urgent, and some of the troops actually suffering. Under these circumstances I issued the order holding the supplies then in the hands of the post commissaries, and which was fully explained in my letter of the 30th of March. It was not intended to violate any law or regulation.

I have caused requisitions to be made for a supply for one quarter. This was only a notification of our prospective wants, for of course I did not expect it all to be furnished at once. But in view of the detached condition of my troops, their distance from the depots of supply, and the almost impassable state of the roads, I have though it necessary to collect at least one month's supply.

Requisitions did no good, for even in anticipation of collection at the posts the supplies were directed to be sent out of the department by orders from Richmond. To meet the emergency I ordered my chief quartermaster and chief commissary of subsistence, under existing laws and regulations authorizing a department commander to impress, to collect a month's supplies. This odious recourse was only resorted to under extreme necessity. These officers are executing the order, but to-day Major King, my chief commissary of subsistence, shows me a dispatch direct to him, from the Commissary-General ordering him to withdraw his "purchasing agents" and direct them to report to Major Cloyd for orders. Of course, these agents employed in carrying out the order first offer the Government price; if refused, they impress.

I have tried every other mode prescribed by law and regulation. Finally, I have resorted to impressment. If an order, not to me from