to conduce most powerfully to the success of our comrades-in-arms east of the Mississippi. With the long-settled conviction which has dictated such a course, I cannot be deemed insensible to the importance of the movement now in contemplation. I beg to observe, in conclusion, that I do not anticipate accomplishing impossibilities, but that not a moment's delay has occurred through me with the means at my disposal to attempt to carry out the difficult duty assigned me. The troops are already in position to cross and the means of crossing en route to their respective destinations. I myself leave here to-morrow to join the troops. I have the honor to be, very respectfully, your obedient servant, CLINTON, LA., August 14, 1864. (Via Mobile.) General BRAXTON BRAGG: Your dispatch of the 12th received. General Taylor was previously informed of your wishes. Four thousand infantry will cross the Mississippi River on Thursday, the 18th, at Dolgin Wall. This comprises the whole force expected. [First indorsement.] THOMAS BUTLER. Respectfully submitted for the information of the President. General BRAGG: [Second indorsement.] How can the number of men reported be transferred as two divisions, or has a change been made? [Third indorsement.] J. D. HEADQUARTERS ARMIES OF THE CONFEDERATE STATES, Respectfully returned to His Excellency the President. I have indicated to General Taylor that he should cross and assume his new command, but I think it better be renewed. The number of men (4,000) reported in the dispatch within seems to be the whole force intended to be sent. See copy of cipher telegram of 22d, herewith sent. BRAXTON BRAGG, General. General E. KIRBY SMITH: ALEXANDRIA, August 14, 1864. GENERAL: Your communication of 12th instant (No. 3659) has just been received, in which you inform me that Major-General Forney is on his way to this place to report to me to take command of Walker's old division. After stating that you have received letters which lead you to believe that "serious difficulty will arise" among the troops on General Forney taking command of that division, you say: If these apprehensions are well founded, and as this is the only command to which he can be assigned in the department upon (my) arrival on the east side of the Mississippi River (1) will relieve General Forney and order him to report to Richmond. While in your letters you profess an anxiety and desire to facilitate the movement of the troops, you now persist in the assignment of this officer, in spite of "serious difficulty" which you believe will arise thereby, and thus add embarrassment in the matter, and direct me when I shall reach the new department, which is independent of your control and jurisdiction, to relieve him and order him to Richmond. Obviously, the only effect of your instructions will be to place General Forney in command of the troops at the moment when the difficulty of which you speak would embarrass the important movement, whose success and dispatch you profess to be desirous of advancing, and thus you would get rid of an officer whose services you do not need or desire in your own department. While you have the right to assign commanders to troops serving within your military jurisdiction, you certainly have none to direct disposition of officers in a command separate from and independent of your own. As soon as the troops reach the bank of the Mississippi River I shall order General Forney to report to your headquarters, as I do not require him to cross with the division. In one of your former letters to me you speak of the influence of Major-General Walker with his old division, he having been in command of it for nearly two years. In view of this fact, and of his being in command of the District of West Louisiana, controlling its military resources and familiar with the dispositions and operations which may have taken place recently within the district, the dispatch, secrecy, and efficiency of the movement of crossing the troops would surely have been promoted by charging him therewith and permitting me to proceed in the first instance to the Cis-Mississippi, where in command of my department I could have matured all the arrangements necessary to be made on that side, and with Major-General Walker in command of his old division the embarrassments and difficulties referred to in your letter of the 12th instant would not have arisen. Inclosed I forward you copy of dispatch in cipher from Capt. T. Butler, of General Bragg's staff, dated Clinton, La., August 9. I shall start at once for my command, and after visiting the troops on this side and inspecting the arrangements for crossing them proceed to the department to which I have been assigned and make the needful dispostions there. I am, general, very respectfully, your obedient servant, [Inclosure.] R. TAYLOR, CLINTON, LA., August 9, 1864. General Bragg directs that you come across and assume your new command as soon as practicable. THOMAS BUTLER, Captain, &c. [Inclosure No. 21.] HEADQUARTERS TRANS-MISSISSIPPI DEPARTMENT, Lieut. Gen. R. TAYLOR: GENERAL: By a letter of the 13th instant from General Walker, commanding the District of West Louisiana, I learn that you contemplate leaving the troops here under your command and crossing the Mississippi. This I positively forbid. Your presence with those troops now on the eve of crossing is of the greatest importance to the success of the movement. Should you have received instructions from higher author ity than the commanding officer of this department you will furnish me with a copy of them, and you will still remain in command of the troops until further orders, as I shall object to a compliance of those instructions until the crossing of the troops shall have been effected. Respectfully, your obedient servant, E. KIRBY SMITH, General. HEADQUARTERS TRANS-MISSISSIPPI DEPARTMENT, Maj. Gen. S. B. BUCKNER, District of West Louisiana: GENERAL: I am directed by General Smith to inclose to you the accompanying letter to General Taylor.* If the circumstances are true, as represented by General Walker, as to the movements of General Taylor, you will hand or cause to be handed to General Taylor the accompanying letter to him. If not true, you will retain the letter. I have the honor to be, very respectfully, &c., GUY M. BRYAN, Major and Assistant Adjutant General. HEADQUARTERS TRANS-MISSISSIPPI DEPARTMENT, Major-General WALKER, news Harrisonburg, August 16, 1864. Commanding the District of Western Louisiana : GENERAL: I will remain with the troops at this point for the present, and will cross the Mississippi with them unless I receive additional or further orders to cross at once. The pontoon boats have arrived, and the troops will be moved to a convenient point for crossing at once. To insure success we require cavalry to picket the immense extent of country, and.I hope none of the cavalry now here will be moved off until after the movement is over, or at least has been attempted. It will also be important for us to have an infantry force left at hand or in the vicinity of Harrisonburg. I therefore request that such portion of Thomas' brigade as is armed will be sent to this point to hold the country. If Thomas' brigade is not in condition to be. moved, cannot Debray's brigade be sent here for this purpose? I respectfully request that you will forward the substance of this communication to the department headquarters. I have seen all of the officers of your old division; they seem to be in fine spirits and well inclined to undertake the movement. I am, general, very respectfully, your obedient servant, [Inclosure No. 22.] Lieutenant-General. NEAR HARRISONBURG, August 18, 1864—10 p. m. General E. KIRBY SMITH: GENERAL: I have the honor to state that information just received from the Mississippi River satisfies me of the impracticability and impossibility of crossing any body of troops. The notoriety which the projected movement has obtained has caused the enemy to make such dispositions of his gun-boats as effectually to defeat the attempt to cross at or near the point for which arrangements were in progress. I have dis *Inclosure No. 21, next, ante. patched to the War Department, at Richmond, a message containing my views of the impracticability of moving troops from this to the east bank of the Mississippi, and I shall await at this point further orders from the War Department on that subject in answer to my dispatch. I have advised Major-General Wharton to send Parsons' cavalry brigade at once to Arkansas. I beg leave respectfully to submit my opinion, that if any movement of troops in this department is in contemplation it should not be delayed on account of the proposed crossing of the infantry from this district, which I believe to be at present impossible. I am, general, very respectfully, your obedient servant, R. TAYLOR, Lieutenant-General. Major-General BUCKNER: The letter on the other half of this sheet is inclosed in an envelope to you for your information. After reading be pleased to inclose in another envelope and forward to General Smith. Respectfully, your obedient servant, R. TAYLOR, Lieutenant-General. [Inclosure No. 23.J General E. K. SMITH, HARRISONBURG, August 18, 1864. Commanding Trans-Mississippi Department: I have the honor to inform you that I have dispatched the War Department to the effect that I consider the crossing of any considerable body of troops impossible. Accurate observations have been made of the enemy's gun-boats between Red River and Vicksburg, and from the strictness of the guard maintained no success can be anticipated. Later in the season, when the Mississippi has attained its lowest stage, troops may be crossed above Vicksburg near Paw Paw Island, where many difficulties to navigation occur. I consider that the bare attempt to cross, almost certain to result in failure, will be very prejudicial to the troops, as many desertions will occur. Meantime not only the troops to be crossed are kept idle, but all the cavalry and artillery assisting the movement. These might certainly be of some service elsewhere in this department. I shall push forward the troops to the vicinity of the river and use every exertion and precaution to insure success, but I hope the receipt of my dispatch will induce the War Department to countermand the order. Respectfully, your obedient servant, R. TAYLOR, NEAR HARRISONBURG, LA., August 19, 1864-9 a. m. General E. KIRBY SMITH, Commanding Trans-Mississippi Department: GENERAL: Your letter of the 15th instant (No. 3697) reached me at a late hour last night by the hands of Captain Foote, of Major-General Buckner's staff. On the 14th instant I wrote you from Alexandria informing you that I had been directed by General Bragg, commanding the armies of the Confederate States, under the direction of the President, to cross the river and assume command of the department to which I had been assigned. I inclosed a copy of the dispatch and informed you that I should leave Alexandria, and after inspecting the troops and arrangements cross the river. On my arrival at this place on the night of the 16th instant I found that the difficulties of effecting the movement of crossing the Mississippi were greater even than I had anticipated, and being unwilling to cast unpleasant responsibilities upon other officers, I at once wrote to MajorGeneral Walker that I should remain on this side and give my personal attention to crossing the troops. I requested General Walker to forward to you immediately a copy of my letter to him. After I reached this place, the pontoon train having been started across the Ouachita, I received information that the enemy were, and had been for several days, aware of the contemplated movement, and had moved their iron-clads from below, stationing them between Vicksburg and the mouth of Red River at intervals of about twelve miles, with their other gun-boats constantly patrolling between those stations, and not more than four hours ever elapsed without a gun-boat passing up or down between Vicksburg and Red River. Deeming the attempt impracticable, and satisfied from personal observation and unmistakable information that it would result only in injury to the whole command, I assumed the responsibility of ordering a suspension of the movement until I could hear further from the War Department, at Richmond, dispatching to that effect on yesterday, and informing you by letter last night of the action which I had taken, and that I should await at this point an answer to my dispatch. Already several hundred desertions from the infantry corps have taken place, a majority of which occurred after the suspension of the movement, but just prior to its announcement to the troops. Convinced of the impossibility of crossing, to have marched the troops nearer the river would have resulted in the loss by desertion of at least one-half the entire command, and while the object in view would have failed, the efficiency of the corps, if not destroyed, would in all probability have been permanently injured. Among the causes which have induced and aggravated this desertion are the following: The non-payment of the troops for a period of twelve months, the absence of a very large proportion of the field officers of the divisions, recent changes which have been made among regimental and brigade commanders, and the inactivity of the command for the last two months. As an illustration of the large number of officers who are absent from their commands, I would cite one brigade (Maclay's) which is commanded by a major and only one other field officer (a major) present. I cannot recognize the propriety of expression used in your letter (No. 3697), in which you state that you "positively forbid" my crossing the river, &c., nor the right which you assume of controlling my obedience to orders emanating directly from the President of the Confederate States through the officer commanding the armies under him. I was relieved by you from the command of the district to which I had been assigned by the President and ordered to "await his pleasure." That pleasure has been indicated by assignment of me to another command and department. When orders reach me from the President I shall obey them, or if in my judgment on the ground delay or suspension are necessary I shall be governed by my discretion, advising the proper authority of my reasons therefor. The mode and channel in which the Commander-in-Chief conveys his orders and instructions to me, if objectionable to you, are matters which you must yourself arrange with the higher authority. Very respectfully, your obedient servant, R. TAYLOR, |