and fall upon his left, whilst Pemberton marched out on his right, something might be accomplished. All these routes failing, the only other one is to march beyond the railroad south of Vicksburg. I merely throw out theses hints in an unofficial manner; they may be of service to you in making up your mind. The best base for us to occupy, instead of the distance of 25 miles from Yazoo City to Big Black, is from Liverpool to Big Black, a distance of 10 miles. Liverpool, all say, is a better position than this for the batteries. I have Colonel Ferguson there with his sharpshooters and artillery; I let him have one of the rifle guns-the light ones. He proposes to have a raft and plant torpedoes, &c. The river is falling so rapidly-at the rate of 14 inches a day-I doubt whether they will attempt to come up. Of course, as our batteries are already planted, and we can't expect to remain quiet long, I don't proposes any change. Your directions to the engineer will be carried out. Excuse my troubling you, but I felt it my duty to give you my ideas freely.

Yours, very respectfully,

W. H. T. WALKER.

[P. S.]- I send you a report of Colonel Wood's, which will give you an idea of the villainy of our enemies. They have destroyed all they could, in order to keep your army from having anything to eat on the road.

Abstract from return of Jackson's Cavalry DIVISION, Brigadier General W. H. Jackson, C. S. Army, commanding, for June 4, 1863; headquarters, near Canton, MISS.

Present for duty

Command. Office Men. Aggrega Aggrega Aggreg

rs. te te ate

present present last

. and return

absent. .

Field and staff 7 -- 7 7 7

Jackson's escort 2 57 60 78 78

First Brigade 75 818 1,048 2,117 2,111

(Cosby)

SECOND brigade 123 1,354 1,815 2,412 2,418

[Whitfield)

King's Missouri 3 73 89 99 95

battery

Total 210 2,302 3,019 4,713 4,709

Composition of Jackson's Cavalry DIVISION, June 4, 1863.

Escort.

7th Tennessee Cavalry, Company A, Captain W. F. Taylor.

First Brigade.

Brigadier General GEORGE B. COSBY.

1st Mississippi, Colonel R. A. Pinson.

4th Mississippi,* Colonel James Gordon.

28th Mississippi, Colonel P. B. Starke.

Ballentine; 's(Mississippi regiment, Lieutenant Colonel W. L. Maxwell.

Escort, Lieutenant N. M. Martin.

SECOND Brigade.

Brigadier General J. W. WHITFIELD.

3rd Texas, Lieutenant Colonel J. S. Boggess.

6th Texas, Colonel L. S. Ross.

9th Texas, Colonel D. W. Jones.

1st Texas Legion, Lieutenant Colonel J. H. Broocks.

Artillery.

Clark (Mississippi) Artillery, Lieutenant George B. Eames.

Not yet joined.