ADDENDA.

SPECIAL ORDERS,
HEADQUARTERS.

Numbers 63.
Demopolis, Ala., March 3, 1864

* * * * *

X. The lieutenant-general commanding takes pleasure in congratulating the officers and men of the commands of Major-General Lee and Major-General Forrest upon the brilliant and successful campaign just closed. It marks and era in this war full of honor to our armies and calculated to teach a useful lesson to our enemies. They came by thousands with glistening bayonets and confident of their strength. Their proclaimed and boasted object was to overrun and desolate our country, if not to strike a death-blow to our cause. They have been forced to return, beaten and distracted and pursued by our cavalry. Their retreating columns may be tracked by their dead and their lost arms and equipments. The lieutenant-general commanding tenders his thanks and the thanks of his countrymen to Generals Lee and Forrest and the gallant spirits who follow them for the glorious, results which heave crowned their efforts, fully vindicating as they do the cavalry arm of the service and entitling it to the confidence and respect of all patriots.

By command of Lieutenant-General Polk:

THOS. M. JACK,
Assistant Adjutant-General.

CIRCULAR.] HDQRS. FORREST'S CAVALRY DEPARTMENT,

Columbus, March 11, 1864

The major-general commanding desires to return his thanks and acknowledgments to the officers and men of his command for their recent gallant and meritorious conduct in defeating and routing the largest, most carefully selected, and best equipped cavalry and mounted infantry command every sent into the field by the enemy.

And it affords him both pleasure and pride to say that by your ability, unflinching bravery, and endurance, a force three times your own was defeated, routed demoralized, and driven from the country, his plans frustrated, his ends unaccomplished, and his forces cut to pieces. Thus by your valor and courage you have given safety and security to the homes and firesides of the defenseless and helpless inhabitants of the country, whose grateful acknowledgments are showered upon you and whose prayers daily and nightly ascend to heaven for your future prosperity and success.

The major-general commanding deplores the loss of some of his bravest officers and men. They have fallen in the discharge of their duty as soldiers and patriots, and have yielded up their lives in defense of all that man holds dear. He desires that you cherish their memory, emulate their example, and achieve your independence or perish in the attempt.

In conclusion, the major-general commanding desires to say that all who were engaged may feel justly proud of their participation in a victory so pregnant with disaster to the enemy and so glorious in its results to our cause, and which has delivered a grateful people from that oppression, devastation, and destruction which follows the footsteps of a dastardly and brutal foe.