disloyal will be sent into the interior, their property destroyed, and all the cattle, horses, and hogs will be driven away or shot. It is to be distinctly understood that there will be no suspension of military operations from this day to the 5th of April.

W. M. GARDNER,

Brigadier-General, commanding.

[35.]

HEADQUARTERS ARMIES CONFEDERATE STATES, Richmond, March 29, 1864.

The PRESIDENT:

A correspondence on this subject between the same parties and on a similar point involving Major Locke, chief commissary for the State of Georgia, was recently submitted to me.* The main difficulty seems to arise from the action of General Beauregard, deemed irregular and improper, in retaining on his reports and treating as members of the staff of his command officers of the Subsistence Department assigned to special service by the War Department, though within the geographical limits of General Beauregard's command. I think that that both General Beauregard and the Commissary-General go beyond the record and bring into the discussion of the simple question much extraneous matter better omitted, and only calculated to complicate and embarrass. The question of subsistence is a most serious one, and should be approached by us all with an eye to the public interest alone. Persons are nothing, and should not be considered in such as issue. General Beauregard has been notified by the Adjutant-General, since my examination of the first correspondence, that he is in error in supposing the commissaries assigned by the War Department to special service in his geographical limits constitute a part of his command. He was also informed that if he needed an officer of the Subsistence Department at his headquarters to exercise supervisory control he had only to select one and place him on that duty. As the immediate want of subsistence is supplied, there seems to be no further action necessary, but it may be well to have a rigid inspection of the affairs in his department causing so much complaint.

Respectfully submitted.

BRAXTON BRAGG,
General.

[First indorsement.]

MARCH 29, 1864.

Secretary of War, with inclosures.

The Subsistence Department, being charged with the duty of providing supplies for the Army, must have the power of assigning and instructing its officers under the directions of the War Department. General commanding departments or armies may and should aid the commissaries so employed, but should not interfere with them in the discharge of their appropriate and defined duties. Issuing commissaries are not to be confounded with purchasing officers or those in charge of general depots. Commissaries, like other officers of the personal staff, should be assigned in orders from the Adjutant and Inspector General's Office.

JEFF'N DAVIS.

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*See VOL. XXXV, Part I, pp.543, 566,571.

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21 R R-VOL LIII