LITTLE ROCK, ARK., July 26, 1864-10.45 a. m.

Brigadier General C. C. ANDREWS,

Commanding Devall's Bluff, Ark.:

I cannot understand why you hang back from obeying my orders. An officer of your standing must certainly comprehend that military affairs, to be conducted with success, must be under one head, and that his orders must be unhesitatingly and implicitly obeyed. I have given you command of a large force for some time, but you should be willing to part with a portion of it when required by the interests of the service. I may, and no doubt do, make mistakes, but I certainly act to the best of my judgment, and having, been instructed with the command of this district I must exercise it in my own way as long as I hold it. I am glad to hear suggestions and objections, and will give them due consideration, but they must not take the place of obedience to positive orders. The order to move Geiger's brigade was positive, and must be carried into effect. You would be very sorry if delay to obey it should prove to have caused us disaster. Give him a reasonable amount of transportation, not for tents, but for such necessaries as he requires in the field. Your pickets can be reduced. He can send scouting parties from his camp. The force at Saint Charles covers you on the south.

E. A. CARR,

Brigadier-General, Commanding.

DEVALL'S BLUFF, July 26, 1864.

(Received 1.30 p. m.)

Captain C. H. DYER:

General Carr's dispatch received. He greatly misapprehends me in thinking I hang back in obeying his orders. Colonel Geiger was early this morning directed to move, and he is only preparing to do so. Every order will be promptly obeyed; but at a distance, if my candid judgment differs from that of my superiors, I shall feel it my duty to express it frankly. This is the first time since I have been in the service that my promptitude in obeying orders has been called in question. My having command of a large force for some time, I trust, has not been done for my personal convenience. After troops get comfortable in camp and have taken great pains to dig wells it causes dissatisfaction to move unless it is really apparent that they thereby get nearer the enemy. Regiment and brigade commanders have remarked upon the labor their men have had in preparing neat camps within the past few weeks, and the dissatisfaction this has caused was one reason of my urging objections to moving.

C. C. ANDREWS,

Brigadier-General.

LITTLE ROCK, ARK., July 26, 1864.

Brigadier General C. C. ANDREWS, Devall's Bluff:

If there is a prospect of having the horses of Geiger's brigade shod at once those horses that require shoeing can remain, if not let them march with the brigade and when they arrive at their destination they can be sent here to be shod.

By order of Brigadier General E. A. Carr:

C. H. DYER,

Assistant Adjutant-General.