OPERATIONS IN KENTUCKY AND TENNESSEE. [CHAP.XII.

RICHMOND, November 18, 1861.

General LEONIDAS POLK, Columbus, Ky.:

If General Johnston cannot fill your requisition, it will be impossible to do it from here.

S. COOPER, Adjutant and Inspector-General.

MEMPHIS, November 18, 1861.

General A. SIDNEY JOHNSTON:

MY DEAR SIR: I have been unavoidably detained by our legislature. They have sent me to the C. S. Senate, which makes of mine a life of civil service. Had it been otherwise, I should have thrown up my position in the Provisional Congress and attached myself to your command for the war.

And here allow me again to express to you the high appreciation and grateful sense in which I hold the appointment and position with which you honored me on your personal staff. I had expected to join you for a few days on my way to Congress, but I find here that the Congress (meeting to-day) has not one Representative from Arkansas present, and that my presence is specially required there on account of the various treaties of amity with the numerous Indian tribes which are depending before Congress and the Government, and which, to secure them, must be ratified without delay. Not to be able to report myself to you at this day is matter of sincere regret, as it may deprive me [of] the power of fully ascertaining and personally representing your wishes at the capital. Yet in all matters and instances in which you may think my humble services can be of avail to promote your views, I beg you will not hesitate to command them by your letters.

There are persons enough to keep you advised of affairs on the Mississippi River far better than I can. I will venture, however, to call to your attention the war on the borders of Arkansas, in Missouri, Kansas, and the Indian Territory. You were aware of my earnest desire that the Missouri war should have secured your personal presence; but you were called to a more difficult and perhaps more glorious field, and though I could but regret the fact, I could say nothing against it. Now, the difficulty still exists that I had hoped was remedied. There is no superior officer in Missouri, no unity among the divisions of the army there. Price and McCulloch have had some, and are liable to still more, serious disagreements, and Colonel Borland's command is wholly independent. No one short of a major-general, and perhaps even a general, can conclusively give orders and command their obedience.

The news here of the withdrawal of Hunter's (Fremont) army I don't believe. We are illy prepared in that quarter, yet I expect speedily to hear of a battle, and if we sustain a defeat our treaties will be worthless with the Cherokees and Creeks and with all other tribes except Choctaws and Chickasaws. Such a result would be deplorable, and could not be remedied for a great while, and never but by utmost energy and double the force now required for a complete success. I commend these matters to your attention and say no more. You are the better judge of their value and of all or any appropriate remedies.

Yet further I beg you to reflect, all the Confederacy supports the Kentucky war and is within reach, but Missouri makes the truest and most desperate struggle, and has almost no help but Arkansas, a feeble