CHAP.XI.] CORRESPONDENCE, ETC.-CONFEDERATE.
required to show that the produce is intended for the use of the people of Mexico only.
I am of the opinion that there are no custom-house officers of our Government on the Rio Grande. There should be officers at several points from El Paso to Brazos Santiago-say El Paso, Presidio del Norte, Eagle Pass or Fort Duncan, Laredo, Roma, Rio Grande City, Brownsville, and Point Isabel.
The subject of our trade and intercourse with Mexico is one of great importance to our Government, especially during this war, and no step should be hastily taken without proper consideration, and it is greatly to our interest that nothing should be done to interrupt the most liberal trade and intercourse with the people of that country, as far as it can be permitted with safety to our interests. I mention these articles and this manner of trade now progressing in order to inform the Government that the proper direction may be given respecting them.
It may seem strange that I am still writing as the commanding officer of this department at these headquarters, when it must be known to the Secretary of War that General Hebert is within the Department of Texas [at Galveston, where he has been for some weeks], but he has not published any order assuming command, or relieved me in any manner by which I could feel justified in leaving the office, to which, in consequence of my senior rank, I was assigned by order of the Secretary of War [Special Orders, No.123], and the orders of General Van Dorn, copies of which I herewith inclose.* I mention this matter that I may not appear ridiculous in the eyes of the officers at the seat of Government.
I am, sir, very respectfully, your obedient servant,
H.E. McCULLOCH, Colonel, C.S.Prov.Army, Commanding Department of Texas.
INDIANOLA, TEX., October 17,1861.
General P.O. HEBERT, Commanding Texas Division, Confederate Army, Galveston, Tex.:
DEAR SIR: There are two artillery companies, numbering about 180 men, stationed at Pass Cavallo, as a defense to the entrance into Matagorda Bay. Their armaments consist of four 24-pounders, two 12-pounders, and one 6-pounder cannon, with a supply of small-arms, but a limited supply of ammunition. They have thrown up temporary embankments of sand at a point some 200 or 300 yards southeast from the Pass Cavallo light-house, and placed their guns in battery. The approach inland from Lavaca and Indianola to this point is by water, there being two large bayous intervening on the land route-bayous over a hundred yards in width and from 10 to 15 feet in depth, and without ferries. In case of an attack on this point, for immediate assistance there could be mustered of the militia in Indianola and Lavaca one company each. It would require from six hours to two days for those companies to reach the post, depending entirely upon wind, tide, and the supply of boats that might be on hand, there being only small sail-boats now plying in the bay.
The Confederate forces now organizing at Victoria, together with the militia at that place, numbering in all at this time not exceeding 800 to 1,000 men, could not be transported on the railroad to Lavaca in
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*See August 14 and September 4 and 18, pp. 98, 101, 106, for orders in question.
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