[Third indorsement.]

OCTOBER 7, 1864.

SECRETARY OF WAR:

Require General Smith to explain his conduct. As set forth it is a premium to desertion, for the purpose of evading an order to cross the river in pursuit of the enemy, and sustains the idea of defending a section of the Confederacy at the expense of the cause for which the States are associated.

JEFF'N DAVIS.

[Fourth indorsement.]

OCTOBER 10, 1864.

ADJUTANT-GENERAL:

Address to General Smith the inquiries suggested by the President's indorsement.

J. A. SEDDON,

Secretary of War.

[Fifth indorsement.]

ADJUTANT AND INSPECTOR GENERAL'S OFFICE,

October 13, 1864.

Respectfully referred to General E. K. Smith for report under the indorsement of the President.

By order of Adjutant and Inspector General:

JOHN W. RIELY,

Assistant Adjutant-General.

[Sixth indorsement.]

HEADQUARTERS TRANS-MISSISSIPPI DEPARTMENT,
Shreveport, December 6, 1864.

Respectfully returned. The within is a misrepresentation. There was no order published wither by myself or any subordinate commander pardoning all or any of the men who deserted when the troops were ordered across the river. Prompt measures were taken to arrest and punish the deserters. The ringleaders were tried, convicted, and shot. In acting on any communication personal to myself from General Taylor I beg the President to remember that General Taylor's systematic misrepresentation of my motives and acts exhibit a violence and prejudice restrained neither by respect for himself nor his superiors.

E. KIRBY SMITH,

General.

SHREVEPORT, October 8, 1864.

His Excellency the PRESIDENT OF THE CONFEDERATE STATES:

The crossing of the troops having failed after every effort, they were moved into Arkansas in support of Price's expedition into Missouri. Dispatches forwarded August 28 and September 13 explain fully. This has caused the enemy to send from Mobile and Tennessee over 20,000 men, who now occupy a menacing attitude, requiring all my force to oppose them. Canby has assumed the offensive on the Atchafalaya with a force of near 8,000, and Steele, re-enforced, is making demonstrations with over 20,000 in Arkansas. If the necessities east of the Mississippi are so urgent as to require sacrifices I would recommend that all the troops in this department be ordered across, and that no half measures be adopted endangering the loss of this department without giving substantial aid to the army east of the river.

E. K. SMITH,

General, Commanding.