I respectfully request that instructions per telegraph may be sent to the commanding officer at Niblett's Bluff for the destructions of the steamboat and other vessels lying in Lake Charles, should the enemy advance in force toward Niblett's Bluff. I shall forward the same from here.

Two gunboats and one schooner reported outside the bar this morning.

Very respectfully, your obedient servant,

A. BUCHEL,

Colonel, Commanding Post.

[Inclosure.]

Memorandum of the roads leading from Sabine City to the Calcasieu, and farther on.

From the Louisiana shore, opposite Sabine City, to Johnson's Bayou settlement, 12 miles. During dry seasons wagons can pass.

From Johnson's Bayou settlement to Mud Pass Bridge, 6 miles. Roads tolerably good in dry season.

From Mud Pass Bridge to mouth of the Calcasieu, 8 miles. Good road.

From the mouth of the Calcasieu (right bank of the river) to Niblett's Bluff road, 31 miles. The road can be traveled with wagons at almost any time.

From the point where it strikes the Niblett's Bluff road to Clifton's Ferry, 9 miles. Good road:

The only road to Lake Arthur from the mouth of the Calcasieu, so far as can be ascertained, is via the Cheniere, along the beach. Distance from the mouth of the Calcasieu to the Cheniere, 15 miles. Road tolerably good.

From the Cheniere to Lake Arthur, 35 to 40 miles. Bad road.

From Clifton's Crossing over the Calcasieu to Lake Arthur, about 30 miles. Good road.

From Lake Arthur to the crossing of the Vermillion and Niblett's Bluff road, over the Mermenton, from 15 to 18 miles. Good road.

At the mouth of the Mermenton, where it empties into Lake Arthur, is a good ferry, but which cannot be used during high winds.

At the mouth of the Calcasieu there is no ferry. Men cross in canoes and horses have to swim.

There is now a steamboat, the T. J. Smith (of which the traitor Clay Smith is the owner), together with several schooners, sloops, flats, &c., lying on Lake Charles, which can be used in crossing troops, provisions, munitions of war, &c., over the river, and carrying them up and down from the mouth to Clifton's Ferry.

The foregoing information is all that can be obtained so far, and seems to be reliable.

The foregoing information is all that can be obtained so far, and seems to be reliable.

HEADQUARTERS FIRST DIVISION, ARMY OF TEXAS,
Fort Brown, Tex., October 18, 1863.

His Excellency General MANUEL RUIZ,

Governor of the State of Tamaulipas, Matamoras, Mexico:

SIR: I had the honor to send a verbal reply by the officer who bore me your letter of the 17th instant, which course I requested him to say to you was adopted by me to enable me to take more time to make my written response.

I am very sensible of this evidence of your confidence in my great desire to maintain peace and order, a confidence which I assure you is not misplaced.

22 R R-VOL XXVI, PT II