HEADQUARTERS TRANS-MISSISSIPPI DEPARTMENT,
Shreveport, May 17, 1864

Major General R. TAYLOR,

Commanding District of West Louisiana:

GENERAL: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 14th. Churchill's and Parson's divisions have been countermarched and are now moving toward Camden. General Price has been instructed to prepare for an advance on the Arkansas Valley, and ultimately on Missouri, to accumulate supplies and organize trains with all the means at his command within the District of Arkansas. General Walker's division marched from Homer through the pine woods to Calhoun's plantation. The head of his column should now be near the river in the vicinity of that place. After your ejectment of Banks from Red River Arkansas and Missouri became the true field of operations for the bulk of your command. The disposable force of the department will be concentrated in that

direction. You should accompany the column from your district. Your presence will add to its efficiency and increase the prospects of success. You must judge of the force to be left for the defense of your district. Make your dispositions and perfect your arrangements preparatory to the march of the troops. The country between Red River and the Arkansas is almost destitute of supplies. The march of masses across it is a problem presenting difficulties of no slight character. Time and preparation are necessary to success in overcoming them. I will meet you at Natchitoches or at any point on the river between here and Alexandria. The earliest moment when your duties will permit should be selected, and notification of the point and time given me in advance. A personal interview and consultation regarding the future operations of the campaign is desired.

Regarding the movement of troops from the lower Red River to Arkansas, I forgot to say that the route by Monroe and up the Bartholomew is the most direct, and beyond the Ouachita has not been yet stripped of supplies.

Respectfully, your obedient servant,

E. KIRBY SMITH,

General.

HEADQUARTERS TRANS-MISSISSIPPI DEPARTMENT,
Shreveport, June 5, 1864

Lieutenant General R. TAYLOR:

GENERAL: I shall no further reply to your letter of May 25 [24] than to call your attention to some of the inaccurate and unjust statements made therein.

First. "The reliable infantry commands, viz, Walker's and Polignac's, have dwindled to nothing." When General Walker left Camden to report to you with his division, two weeks previous to the date of your letter its strength, from a memorandum report which he furnished me, was about 4,500. It has since received accessions of strength and will probably now be found over 5,000 aggregate.

Second. "If I am relieved from the incubus of the Conscript Bureau," &c.; and again, "The conscript laws are a snare and delusion; old regiments which have gained honor on many a well-fought field are reduced to skeletons, while new organizations are