[Inclosure.]

HEADQUARTERS TRANS-MISSISSIPPI DEPARTMENT,
OFFICE OF THE COTTON BUREAU,

Shreveport, December 12, 1864.

Brigadier General W. R. BOGGS:

GENERAL; Under date of the 12th of September I had the honor to write you relative to the supply of the Rio Grande troops, and gave notice that I had furnished 1,000 bales of cotton for payment of debts already contracted and for the maintenance of the command, and that adequate arrangements would be made by me to meet requisitions for sixty days to come. As the resources of the Cotton Bureau are greatly diminished and will soon be entirely cut off, I beg to call the attention of the commanding general to the subject again in connection with a letter from W. G. Hale, transmitted herewith.* In view of the fact that the planters of Texas are repudiating their engagements to sell the Government one-half their cotton in their eagerness to avail of the change of system, I think King & Co. are fully justified in withholding the further advance of $80,000 stipulated for to keep up supplies until cotton could be got forward in sufficient quantity to enable Mr. Perkins to make the needful purchases direct and save to the Government the expense incident to the profits allowed the contractor. * * * The troops on the whole line from Eagle Pass down are estimated at 2,500 men, and have been maintained at an enormous cost in specie, averaging $55,000 to $65,000 per month. In my previous letter I recommended that they be reduced at least one-half; that corn, beef, bacon, and salt be furnished from Texas, and that the command, could be thus kept at $20,000 or $25,000 per month, say 1,200 or 1,500 bales cotton per annum, which could easily be furnished.

Very respectfully, your obedient servant,

W. A. BROADWELL,

Lieutenant-Colonel.

HEADQUARTERS TRANS-MISSISSIPPI DEPARTMENT,
Shreveport, December 13, 1864.

Major-General MAGRUDER,

Commanding District of Arkansas:

GENERAL: In reply to your communication of the 7th instant, the commanding general directs me to say that he has already given you his views in full in regard to the organization of Price's command and the dismounting of the cavalry. From your letter it would appear that you propose to retain five brigades of cavalry, including Marmaduke's, Shelby's and Cabell's temporarily dismounted. It is the wish of the commanding general that but two, or at most three, of these brigades should be retained as cavalry; that the division of Missouri infantry to be commanded by General Price should be increased as much as possible by the transfer of Missourians from cavalry, and the ranks of the Arkansas infantry filled by dismounted Arkansas cavalry. Dobbin's and McCray's brigades will probably prove to be formed almost wholly of absentees from other commands, who must be returned to their original organizations. The commanding general is informed that supplies are much less abundant in the neighborhood of Clarksville than on that part of Red River where it was proposed to locate Price's command. He objects to you placing troops on the Red River

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*Not found.

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