chief of staff of General Smith. I beg that you will urge on General Smith that a light-draft steamer be sent here at once, and that I may be permitted to station such of the cavalry as I may think proper in Red River County, Tex., or other counties of Texas bordering on the river in order to relieve the valley in some degree, after the reorganization will be effected as soon as they can cross the rivers and streams. General Smith has permitted Major-General Maxey to billet on my district without my consent a large brigade of cavalry, and they have engaged and consumed a large portion of the corn upon which I had a right to calculate. You will see that whilst I am compelled to speak the truth, I have done so respectfully and in a spirit of calmness and candor. I beg also that you will urge upon him the propriety of a fair division of the arms which may come through Texas, for I fear General Smith may be satisfied to depend upon Selma, Ala., for arms for Arkansas. The events which have swept over Georgia like a whirlwind make that dependence fatal. It is obvious that there is not the least possibility of getting arms from there now.

In haste, very faithfully, yours, &c.

J. B. MAGRUDER,

Major-General, Commanding.

SPECIAL ORDERS,
HEADQUARTERS CHURCHILL'S DIVISION. Numbers 156.
Camp Lee, December 27, 1864.

* * * *

II. Brigadier-Generals McNair and Tappan will hold their brigades in readiness to march on Friday, the 30th instant, at 8 o'clock. They will have prepared three days' cooked rations and forage for their commands. They will take with them as little baggage as possible, as it is expected they will return in the course of five or six days. The route will be indicated before leaving camp. Each brigade will carry five rounds of ammunition.

III. Major Blocher, commanding artillery battalion with fifty picked men will be prepared to march on the same day and at the same hour designated in paragraph II of this order.

* * * *

By command of Major-General Churchill:

C. E. KIDDER,
Captain and Acting Assistant Adjutant-General.

SUBSISTENCE DEPARTMENT, Richmond, December 28, 1864.

General S. COOPER

Adjutant and Inspector General,

C. S. Army, Richmond, Va.;

GENERAL: I have the honor to call your attention to the inclosed copy of General Orders, Numbers 70, headquarters Trans-Mississippi Department, September 12, 1864,* by which the system of purchasing and collecting subsistence stores, inaugurated by this Bureau with approval of the Secretary of War, April 15, 1863, is entirely abrogated. The very great results of the working of this system on this side of the

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*See Part III, p. 925.

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