HEADQUARTERS TRANS-MISSISSIPPI DEPARTMENT, Shreveport, La., June 4, 1863.

General S. COOPER,
Adjutant and Inspector General, C. S. Army, Richmond, Va.:

GENERAL: I have the honor to forward Brigadier-General Mouton's report of his operations in Lower Louisiana.* General Mouton was pushed beyond the Calcasieu by the enemy's advance. At Niblett's Bluff I re-enforced him with three regiments of Texas cavalry and a battery of field artillery, ordering him to operate by the Opelousas prairies on General Banks' flank and rear. When the enemy fell back toward Berwick By and Bayou Sara, for their attack on Port Hudson, General Mouton was ordered into the La Fourche country, and was instructed to seize Donaldsonville and threaten their communication with New Orleans. The result of his operations has not yet been heard from.

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

E. KIRBY SMITH,

Lieutenant-General, Commanding.

HDQRS. DIST. OF TEXAS, NEW MEXICO, AND ARIZONA, Houston, June 4, 1863.

Brigadier General H. P. BEE,
Commanding Western Sub-District:

SIR: I am instructed by Major-General Magruder to direct that you cause Colonel [A.] Buchel's regiment and Colonel [P. C.] Woods' regiment to be halted and placed in camp near Kings' ranch. Colonel Buchel will be placed in charge of this camp, and will be directed to so conduct it that these regiments will be well disciplined and in good order for field service. This camp will obtain supplies of beef from the adjacent country.

The general desires you to make arrangements at once for flour and other necessary articles to be supplied to those troops through Messrs. Stillman, Kennedy & King, at Brownsville, if this has not already been done by them, with a view of supplying the troops on the march.

This is an eligible position for these two regiments, for the reason that they can be returned to Brownsville, or any point on the Rio Grande at which they may be needed, on short notice. The general instructions me to say that should these regiments be needed in the Eastern Sub-District, they can be transported by the inland navigation to Mattagorda from Corpus Christi, unless the enemy cut our communication on the bay between these two places. The fact that the enemy has crossed the Mississippi precludes the probability of these regiments being needed in this sub-district, to be thrown across to Louisiana, for some time.

The general directs that your order Colonel P. N. Luckett, commanding Third Texas Infantry, to proceed with his regiment to Navasota, Tex., and report to Acting Brigadier General S. P. Bankehad, at Bonham, for the propose of assisting in repelling an invasion of the enemy, now anticipated, into the wheat-growing country in north and northeastern part of the State.

In regard to yourself, the general desires you to remain on the Rio

---------------

*See Series I, Vol. XV, pp. 396-400.

---------------