HEADQUARTERS TRANS-MISSISSIPPI DEPARTMENT,
Shreveport, April 12, 1864

Major General R. TAYLOR:

GENERAL: I have received your letter of the 11th instant. Colonel Anderson will send you by to-day's courier the order of promotions. Colonel Speight's name is not included, for the reasons mentioned in your letter. I have concluded also to withhold Colonel Gray's appointment till I hear further from you. His abatis, I understand are not good, and the appointment, if bad, once made cannot be undone, however much it may be regretted. I will await further recommendations from you in his case.

Your obedient servant,

E. KIRBY SMITH,

General, Commanding.

[Numbers 2646.] HEADQUARTERS TRANS-MISSISSIPPI DEPARTMENT. Shreveport, La., April 12, 1864

Major General R. TAYLOR,

Commanding District of West Louisiana:

GENERAL: Your letter of 8 p.m. yesterday is just received. I inclose you copy of a dispatch from General Price of the same date. Steele is bold to rashness; will probably push on without thought or circumspection. To win the campaign his column must be destroyed. Should you move below and Steele's small column push on and accomplish what Banks has failed in, and destroy our shops at Jefferson and Marshall, we will not only be disgraced, but irreparably deprived of all our means and resources. Banks is certainly so crippled that he cannot soon take the offensive. Most probably he will fall back to Alexandria. The patient, uncomplaining spirit manifested by Arkansas the prompt and unselfish behavior of Price in pushing on his whole infantry force to your support, merits a return. Great results are to be reached in that direction if Steele can be reached. Arkansas will be saved politically and the reoccupation of the Arkansas Valley accomplished; full 5,000 good men will be added to our army; the department will be relieved from all trouble on its northern frontier, and the road opened to Missouri when our successes east of the river warrant the advance. Were Steele in retreat the prompt pursuit of Banks would be wise, and might result in inflicting still greater losses upon him. The campaign in Louisiana presents great physical obstacles and does not offer the permanent results that would follow the defeat of Steele alone. The country is exhausted, and if successful we are brought up at the Mississippi without the hope of permanent acquirement while the enemy's navy holds possession of the river. The capture and occupation of New Orleans can alone break up the political organization of the State by the enemy. Their naval superiority makes this result impossible. Prepare your command and organize your trains for rapid movement. The command that marches against Steele must not only move rapidly but must be in strength sufficient to make success certain. Churchill's command, with three additional brigades, may do. I would suggest for the purpose the temporary organization of Randal's, Waul's and Speight's brigades under Polignac. I inclose some dispatches from General Price and