it will be practicable for this command to come down by water, or will have to move by land. If you move up above Natchitoches the latter route will be necessary. Information from Red River above this point represents the water very low.

Very respectfully, your obedient servant,

E. CUNNINGHAM,

Lieutenant and Aide-de-Camp.

HEADQUARTERS DISTRICT OF WEST LOUISIANA,
In the Field, March 26, 1864

Brigadier General W. R. BOGGS,

Chief of Staff:

GENERAL: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of dispatches from your headquarters of the 24th instant. It will be perfectly practicable at the present time for General Price's command to be transported by water to Grand Ecore. Should there be danger I can always advise it in time to land at Blair's Landing, 34 miles above Grand Ecore by water, and 15 miles across via Jordan's Ferry and Bayou Pierre to Pleasant Hill. This would save 60 or 70 miles of marching. The question of supplies will be a serious one, and should receive immediate attention. The enemy will ravage and exhaust the whole territory he now possesses, and my army is making heavy drains upon this section, and to this will be added the demands of Green's large cavalry force. I would therefore suggest that as large a number as possible of flats and barges be prepared to boat supplies of corn and subsistence down the river in the event of low water. I am still ignorant of what disposition the enemy has made or is making of his large force, and have no news of Green since I last wrote you. The difficulty of obtaining accurate intelligence is greatly enhanced by jayhawkers. The whole country between this and Alexandria swarms with these outlaws, who are allied with the enemy and acting in his interests. Several of our scouts have been murdered, and it is more dangerous for small parties to pass through the pine woods than it would be to penetrate the enemy's lines. Besides, the intimate acquaintance of the country possessed by these people renders it impossible to escape their vigilance. The arrival of one, or two even, of Green's regiments will change the whole aspect of affairs.

Respectfully, your obedient servant,m

R. TAYLOR,

Major-General.

HEADQUARTERS DISTRICT OF WEST LOUISIANA,
Near Beasley's, March 26, 1864.

Brigadier General W. R. BOGGS,

Chief of Staff:

GENERAL: I have the honor to report the arrival this evening of an officer of Green's advance regiment, sent on to advise the approach of the division, which is moving from Jasper via Milan and Sabinetown, which point the first regiment will reach to-morrow. No movement of the enemy northward from Alexandria up to this morning, though I anticipate an advance to-morrow or the next day,