forward, thinking that thereby they would insure more prompt attention.

They all seem sensible that they adopted an improper mode of expressing their grievances, and many are thoroughly ashamed. I must, in justice to Brigadier-General Debray, state that his course was prompt and efficient, and I fully indorse his action, as I fell he could not have done less under the circumstances as they were presented to him. At the time General Debray, disarmed the regiment, he was not aware of the extent of the dissatisfaction, which fact has had great influence on my course of action, a full report of which will be forwarded when I receive the reports of a board I have ordered.

Brigadier-General [W. R.] Scurry arrived here this evening. At present I see no cause of alarm.

I have the honor to be, your obedient servant,

P. N. LUCKETT,

Acting Brigadier-General, First Brigade, Second Division.

Captain EDMUND P. TURNER,

Assistant Adjutant-General.

Numbers 4. General Orders, Numbers 139, Headquarters District of Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona.

GENERAL ORDERS,
HDQRS. DIST. TEX., N. MEX., AND ARIZ., Numbers 139.
Galveston, August 24, 1863.

The commanding general received with feelings of deep mortification the intelligence of the mutinous and insubordinate conduct of a portion of the troops guarding the city and island of Galveston. He could hardly believe that the gallant men who so nobly supported him on the 1st of January, and shed so bright a halo of glory around our holy cause, could, within a few months, be so unmindful of their high obligations and so unjust to themselves and the fair fame of their regiments as to exhibit a spirit of insubordination from such petty motives as dissatisfaction with their rations and indisposition to drill or a desire for furloughs.

The devoted soldiers of Texas, who have illustrated every battle-field in Virginia, Tennessee, Mississippi, and New Mexico by their heroism; who have lived for weeks on insufficient and uncooked food; who have borne with scanty clothing the snows and frosts of a rigorous climate, to which they had not been accustomed, without a murmur; who, leaving this State as cavalry, have drill with little intermission from morning till night to pertest themselves as infantry; who have sacrificed every private preference to insure success against the common enemy, will hear with incredulity, and then believe with anguish, the tale which reflects such dishonor and disgrace upon their comrades left behind to defend their beloved State, their aged parents, their faithful wives and helpless children.

The major-general commanding, while condemning, will be just to his troops, and takes great pleasure in making it known that, while some few of them have been misled by bad and thoughtless men, no trace of disaffection or disloyalty has made its appearance among