public property under the command of the officer in San Antonio to be delivered over to the undersigned, the troops to retain their side arms, camp and garrison equipage, and the facilities for transportation to the coast, to be delivered on their arrival at the coast.

This morning we effected an arrangement with General Twiggs by which it is agreed that all forts in Texas shall forthwith be delivered up, the troops to march from Texas by way of the coast, the cavalry and infantry to retain their arms, the artillery companies being allowed to retain two batteries of light artillery of four guns each, the necessary means of transportation and subsistence to be allowed the troops on their march toward the coast, all public property to be delivered up. We might possibly have retained the guns at Fort Duncan by a display of force, which display of force would have coast the State eight times the value of the batteries of light artillery. Your instructions, however, counseled avoiding collision with the Federal troops if it could be avoided, General Twiggs having repeatedly asserted in the presence of the military commission and ourselves that he would die before he would permit his men to be disgrder of their arms; that the men under his command had never been dishonored or disgraced, and they never should, if he could help it.

By this arrangement at least $1,300,000 of property will belong to the State, the greater portion of which would be otherwise destroyed or squandered. By this arrangement we are freed, without bloodshed or trouble, from the presence of the Federal troops. They cannot go to New Mexico or Kansas to fix freesolism on the one, or to be the nucleus of a Northern army on the other, to menace our frontier in the future.

The labor performed by the undersigned in the business undertaken by them has been neither light nor pleasant. We have adhered to the letter and the spirit of our instructions, and exercised our discretion only when it became absolutely necessary. We had some anxious hours resting upon us from the time the volunteer force commenced closing around the city until after the surrender of the posts held by the U. S. troops. Our force must have been, at 8 a. m., not less than 1,100 men under arms; and a more respectable looking or orderly body of men than the volunteer force it would not be easy to find.

We have taken measures to secure the public property, and have authorized Major Sackfield Maclin, paymaster, U. S. Army, and who, as you will perceive by the army list, stands high upon the same, to act as adjutant and inspector general and chief of ordnance, combining the business of three departments in one. This economizes expense and gives the State for the present the services of a man competent to the duties assigned him, capable of preventing the confusion and consequent loss that would fall upon the State by the appointment of an incompetent person. Major Maclin is a true Southern man; he resigns his commission in the Federal Army, giving up an income from that Government of nearly $4,000 per annum. We address him as colonel, for the purpose of giving him an honorable stand in his expectations or claims upon the Southern Confederacy in some futuretment. His appointment by the undersigned lasts until set aside by you or the convention's order. Please let us know whether you approve of this action.

Captain Reynolds has been acting as assistant quartermaster at San Antonio. He will resign his commission as captain in the U. S. Army. We have, for the same reasons set forth in Major Maclin's case,

3 R R - SER II, VOL I