which will then increase the number of troops in General Brayman's command. It is very necessary that a good regiment of cavalry be sent here. If the commanding general has none to spare me, I respectfully ask that the Third Michigan, from the Department of Arkansas, or the First Louisiana, from the Department of the Gulf, may be applied for. I name these regiments because I know the officers to be gentlemen. I have established wharf regulations here, which I fund much needed, and have had the levee flagged off for public and private freight and public and private vehicles. From the great number of cotton permits granted in New Orleans for Fort Adams I would suggest the propriety of a garrison, say one regiment of infantry, being stationed there. I am convinced it will require a good officer to look into and control matters there. I ask of the general what authority I have as regards passes and permits for lessees. I shall follow rigidly his circular of December 16, as for the post of Natchez, until I hear from him. I find much to amend here, particularly with the troops. I shall spare no effort to make them effective, requiring all officers to make their homes and sphere of duties with their regiments.

I am, colonel, your most obedient servant,

J. W. DAVIDSON,

Brigadier-General, Commanding.

HDQRS. FIFTH ILLINOIS CAVALRY, VET. VOLS.,
Vicksburg, January 8, 1865.

Colonel E. D. OSBAND,

Commanding Cavalry Brigade:

COLONEL: I have just returned from Big Black, where I was sent as a bearer of a flag of truce. The lieutenant who came from Jackson to meet me informed me that Grierson's raid had desolated a large part of Mississippi, and that he went wherever he wanted to. He also said that General Wirt Adams had been whipped somewhere in the vicinity of Goodman Station and driven from the field in confusion, leaving fifty men killed outright. Trusting the item may be of interest, I sent it to you.

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

JAMES NISBET,

First Lieutenant Company K, Fifth Illinois Cavalry.

GENERAL ORDERS,
HDQRS. DEPT. OF THE MISSOURI,

Numbers 7.
Saint Louis, Mo., January 8, 1865.

It being the intention of the general commanding to employ every means in his power for the purpose of ridding the department of bushwhackers, guerrilla bands, and rebel emissaries, and of restoring and maintaining law and order, he deems it proper to make known, in orders, to the citizens of Missouri their duty in the premisses and the requirements that will be exacted from them. The experience of the past three years has clearly demonstrated the fact that the bushwhackers and guerrilla bands operating in this State congregated, well, and obtain their support in disloyal counties and neighborhoods, where they are encouraged and protected, and the efforts of the military forces to hunt them down are often rendered unsuccessful by reason of the deceptive and non-committal course of the resident disloyal citizens. The general commanding desires all such citizens to distinctly under-