[Indorsements.]

HEADQUARTERS TRANS-MISSISSIPPI DEPARTMENT,
Shreveport, August 18, 1863.

General Taylor is suggested to send such of these batteries as can be spared. If all cannot be spared, he will send those in the most inferior condition.

By order of Lieutenant General E. Kirby Smith:

S. S. ANDERSON,

Assistant Adjutant-General.

HEADQUARTERS DISTRICT OF WESTERN LOUISIANA,
Alexandria, September 2, 1863.

Respectfully returned. Captains Nichols', Gonzales', and Gibson's batteries were ordered some days since to rejoin General Magruder's command, and have marched for Texas.

R. TAYLOR,

Major-General.

HEADQUARTERS TRANS-MISSISSIPPI DEPARTMENT,
Shreveport, La., September 10, 1863.

Respectfully forwarded to Major-General Magruder for his information. (See indorsement of Major-General Taylor.)

By order of Lieutenant General E. Kirby Smith:

S. S. ANDERSON,

Assistant Adjutant-General.

FORT WORTH, TARRANT COUNTY, TEX.,

August 12, 1863.

Major General J. B. MAGRUDER:

The militia of this district met for the purposes of organization in this county at a point known as Robinson's Mills. The Indian depredations upon our frontier had created such intense excitement in the minds of those from Parker and Johnson Counties that it was almost impossible to retain them in camp long enough to organize, their families being in immediate danger. This state of things was not at all surprising. In one family, the mother was killed and four children carried off; in another family, the wife and two children killed and two children seriously, if not mortally, wounded. Several men have been killed and many herds of horses driven off. The Indians have been seen in so many neighborhoods that we fell satisfied that there are a great many small parties of Indians scattered through the western counties, and they have been within 25 miles of this place. We had some trouble in getting the border men into the organization, lest they might be ordered away, to leave homes and families unprotected. This originated evidently from a want of proper understanding, for as soon as we explained to them that organization was the only proper mode of defense, the only efficient one, and that the authorities intended to defend, the only efficient one, and that the authorities intended to defend every portion of the State, they very readily yielded, and were mustered into the service. We then took the responsibility of ordering these men to the frontier to hunt, kill, and drive out these red enemies from our midst, and we now make this report that something may be done for the benefit of the sufferers.