assured him that unless the absentees from the brigade who had joined said battalion were ordered back I believed it would be the means of breaking up Thomson's regiment, for if a commissioned officer was permitted to join that command, first deserting his company and regiment and taking with him twenty- nine men, and no steps taken to have him and the men brought back, I believed that all who could raise horses would be induced to run off and join said cavalry battalion. Major Gallagher told me that Captain Watkins had been ordered back and all the men attached to the battalion would be sent back t to their proper commands. On Sunday last there were two men in the guard- house in Camden belonging to Captain Overstreet's company. I would further represent that most of the men from said brigade have been induced to desert their commands with a view of joining the cavalry service; that their officers are unwilling to transfer them to Captain Watkins or any one else. I would further represent that unless said men are ordered back the officers are very much afraid that Thomson's regiment will be broken up, as every man who wishes to join th cavalry will do so when he finds he can do so with impunity. I would again, that all the men from said brigade who have attached themselves to Watkins' battalion may be ordered back without delay, and that Lieutenant McCargo may be arrested and sent back, to be tried upon charges for inducing his men to desert from their commands.

I am, colonel, &c.,

J. C. TAPPAN,

Brigadier-General.

HEADQUARTERS CHURCHILL'S DIVISION,
Camp Yell, July 29, 1864.

Lieutenant-Colonel BELTON,

Assistant Adjutant-General:

COLONEL: I would respectfully represent that about the 1st of May last Captain J. W. Faust, quartermaster of Colonel Thomson's regiment, Tappan's brigade,or this division, was taken from his regiment and placed upon detached duty by Major Brinker,quartermaster of this district. I would further represent that said Faust is a bonded officer and is the only bonded quartermaster in said brigade except the brigade quartermaster. I would further represent that his services are greatly needed, and communications have been repeatedly sent up asking that he be ordered back, or if that cold not be done that another bonded officer be sent in his place. Captain J. W. Faust having been appointed as quartermaster of Thirty- third Regiment Arkansans Volunteers,a nd assigned to duty s such, I respectfully submit whether under act of Congress passed May 1, 1863, he can be legally detached on permanent duty from his command. Said act reads as follows;

SECTION 5. That quartermasters, assistant quartermasters, commissaries, and assistant commissaries who become permanently detached fro divisions, brigades, or regiments to which they are originally appointed or assigned, respectively, whether by resignation or otherwise, shall cease to be officers of the Army, and their names shall be dropped from the rolls ofthe Army, unless reassigned by a special order from the Secretary of War.