Rio Grande. It would be very beneficial, if we had the troops, to keep a regiment out here to prevent guerrilla excursions from Mexico, but, as indicated in a previous letter, my judgment is that we should concentrate. A comparatively small force of the enemy may come to Brownsville, but they will never attempt to invade us by that route, nor attempt to hold 400 miles of this river, when the same object can be obtained in a march of 130 miles from Lavaca to San Antonio.

I have established the most friendly and useful relations with Governor Ruiz, and if time is allowed by the enemy, I hope to be more successful in obtaining arms than I have heretofore been. The arms sent by Captain Da Ponte, if they escape the dangers of the sea, will get into my hands without difficulty, but with some expense.

With great respect, your obedient servant,

H. P. BEE,

Brigadier-General, Provisional Army.

HEADQUARTERS FIRST DIVISION,
Fort Brown, Tex., August 24, 1863.

Captain EDMUND P. TURNER,

Asst. Adjt. General, Houston, Tex.:

SIR: I beg to call the attention of the general commanding to a fact important to be understood in connection with future events here.

There is no currency here but specie, and no labor of any kind can be obtained for Confederate money. I have 25 new wagons and over 200 will mules, but cannot get any one to break them to harness. The attempt has been satisfactorily made with detailed men, and there is but one result-the mule gets away. There are no horses here for Creuzbaur's light battery, although Captain [Edwin] Lilly, of Duff's regiment, was sent to San Antonio for them in June last.

I have no teamsters for the teams now here, as nearly all have deserted; in a word, the military establishment on this line is a farce, and will remain so as long as our currency is worth only seven cents on the dollar, and labor from five to ten dollars per day in specie. The conscripts who come with teams desert in numbers when they come here. I have already sent in several wagons empty to Alleyton, in hopes that the facilities may be greater there than here for furnishing them with teams and drivers.

I respectfully suggest that Creuzbaur's battery and the two 24-pounder siege guns now here be ordered to Alleyton at once; they can be hauled by oxen. If General Banks intends to invade Texas, he will be delayed at least three months for transportation, as it will have to come from the North. That he will take the seaport towns, and then march by way of Berwick and Sabine, seems to me reasonable.

I have the honor to be, with great respect, your obedient servant,

H. P. BEE,

Brigadier-General, Provisional Army.

HEADQUARTERS FIRST DIVISION,
Fort Brown, Tex., August 24, 1863.

Captain EDMUND P. TURNER,

Asst. Adjt. General, Houston, Tex.:

SIR: I have the honor to inform you that my special agent, Mr. A. Superviele, has just returned from a visit to the French man of war now off the mouth of the Rio Grande, with the following information:

An attack will be made upon Marmaduke as soon as the troops (which are hourly