HDQRS. DISTRICT OF NORTHEASTERN ARKANSAS,
Batesville, Ark., March 8, 1864.

Major W. D. GREEN,

Asst. Adjt. General, Seventh Army Corps and Dept of Ark.:

MAJOR: I have the honor to report that a scout sent out under the command of Colonel E. Baxter, Fourth Regiment Arkansas Infantry, on the night of the 25th ultimo, captured 1 captain, 2 lieutenants, 19 enlisted men of the Confederate service, 18 horses, 9 mules, and 2 yoke of oxen, with 2 wagon loads of provisions en route to the enemy.

This was done in the neighborhood of the Devil's Fork of Little Red River during the late very inclement weather, and accomplished entirely by the men and officers of Colonel Baxter's regiment. Rutherford was not found, he having crossed Little Red River with 140 U. S. mules, captured, from my train on the 19th ultimo. These mules are now between Little Red and Arkansas Rivers, in the neighborhood of Cardron River, in Conway County, and could be overtaken by the forces posted on the Arkansas River.

I am, major, very respectfully, your obedient servant,

R. R. LIVINGSTON,

Colonel First Nebraska Cavalry, Commanding District.

HDQRS. DISTRICT OF NORTHEASTERN ARKANSAS,
Batesville, Ark., March 8, 1864.

Brigadier General D. McRAE,

C. S. Army, Jackson County, Ark.:

GENERAL: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your communication of the 27th ultimo, this morning, under flag of truce, conveyed by Lieutenant Ritchey. In reply I would state that I honor a brave soldier of any army, be he enemy or otherwise, and that prisoners from the regular Confederate are, have been, and always will be well treated by me and the officers and men under my command. There is one point, however, upon which you as a soldier cannot fail to agree with me, and that is that if a regularly enlisted and mustered soldier, borne upon the pay-rolls of an organized army, forgets his honorable calling so far as to stray from his command and engage in acts of pillage and violence toward defenseless citizens, he is to all intents and purposes a brigand, acting without authority of his more enlightened superiors, and liable to be punished for the crimes he had perpetrated. The fact of his being a soldier cannot shield him from the consequence of his acts, nor will any honorable soldier support the doctrine that the noble profession of arms can be used as a safeguard for villainy.

No Confederate soldiers have been maltreated by me or my command, nor will they unless caught in the perpetration of acts which condemn them as outlaws and a disgrace to any army. I punish my own men for acts of this sort, and will continue to do so. The fact of a man being a soldier, in my opinion, gives him no immunity from the long arm of the law, be he Federal or Confederate. I avail myself of this opportunity to state that 4 enlisted men of the Fourth Regiment Arkansas Mounted Infantry, captured by Captain George Rutherford, were retained by him as deserters from the Confederate service, he stating that he would turn them over to you. I immediately