E. Kirby Smith to Samuel Cooper, June 9, 1863

General 8S. CooPER, Adjutant and Inspector General, Richmond, Va.:

Srr: I have the honor to report, for the information of the War Department, that the column of the enemy under General Banks, after pushing their advance to within 25 miles of Natchitoches, commenced a retrograde movement on the 17th ultimo. One division retreated by the Opelousas road to Berwick Bay; the main body, some 20,000 strong, turned off at the Huffpower, and, taking the road to Simsport, crossed the Mississippi at Bayou Sara. General Taylor’s estimate of the force under Banks is 32,000 men and eighty-three pieces of artillery. They were reported strongly re-enforced after arriving at Opelousas.

As soon as the movement on Berwick Bay developed itself, I ordered General Walker’s division from Pine Bluff, Ark., and the concentration at Niblett’s Bluff, on the Sabine, of the disposable force in Texas. The latter force reached the Sabine in time to re-enforce General Mouton, and to operate on the rear and flank of the column which fell back toward Berwick Bay. Owing to the distance and the difficulties encountered, General Walker’s column did not reach Red River until the 24th of May. General Banks had then secured his retreat and was crossing the Mississippi.

The practicability of operating against the enemy near Milliken’s Bend, and of co-operating with General Pemberton in the defense of Vicksburg, has long occupied my attention. The cutting of the levee above had flooded the country from the Bayou Macon hills to the Mississippi, and, until lately, rendered all operations from West Louisiana impossible.

General Walker was ordered from Arkansas on the 14th of April. Finding he would not arrive before General Banks’ retrograde movement had been effected, arrangements were made in advance, and General Taylor was ordered to move rapidly with General Walker’s (ivision on the enemy’s communications opposite Vicksburg. General Taylor with his command embarked the 29th of May on Catahoula Lake, and, moving by Little River and the Tensas, disembarked opposite New Carthage on the 31st ultimo. General Tappan’s brigade, from Price’s division, had been previously ordered to Monroe, to act as a reserve and to co-operate with General Taylor. I have not yet received a report from General Taylor; he should have been opposite Vicksburg on the 2d instant, and, I believe, is in position to materially assist in the defense of that place. I await with great uneasiness the result of military operations on the Mississippi; especially in the vicinity of Vicksburg does the magnitude of the stake contended for increase my anxiety. Not only the Valley of the Mississippi, but the fate of the Trans-Mississippi Department, is involved in the result. I would throw every man to those points were they disposable. This immense empire is withoutanarmy. Were all the troops concentrated, they would scarcely be more than sufficient for operating at any one point threatened; distances are so great that it takes the time of a campaign to reenforce from one district to another. No effectual concentration can be made at any one point without the abandonment of all others. Four brigades of infantry (7,000) were drawn from the district of Arkansas, and are now under Taylor opposite Vicksburg. General Holmes has four brigades of infantry (7,000), besides Marmaduke’s cavalry, remaining in his district; he is threatened from Missouri, and is in constant fear of a forward movement of the enemy.

42 W. FLA., 8. ALA., 8. MISS., L. A., TEX., N. MEX. [Cuar. XXXVITL

Steele is threatened by a column from Kansas, and has to meet it but a handful of cavalry and his Indians. General Magruder has a force of nearly 8,000, scattered through the vast extent of his district. By calling out the militia for the defense of the coast, and by concentrating his command, General Magruder expects to bring together near Niblett’s Bluff a force of about 8,000. General Taylor controls within his district an effective force of about 10,000 infantry and 3,000 cavalry.

Should the enemy’s operations on the Mississippi be successful, General Banks will occupy West Louisiana and the Valley of Red River. I believe I shall be able to bring a force of 18,000 or 20,000 men to oppose him. No further re-enforcements can be drawn from Arkansas, unless the Valley of the Arkansas is abandoned. The movement into Missouri is the terminus ad quem of all my hopes; complete success on the Mississippi will, I trust, enable its realization. The Valley of the Arkansas is, then, all-important, and its abandonment will be ordered only in extreme necessity. The troops in this department are in part unarmed. Orders should be given General Pemberton to further by all means at his disposal the transshipment of all stores, &c., intended for the Trans-Mississippi; the first temporary opening of communications should be taken advantage of. The course pursued by the enemy’s cruisers in the Gulf has cut off in a great measure the material which was expected by the Rio Grande, and we are now dependent upon Richmond for supplies, especially in the ordnance department. I believe that such steps have been taken as will make the department in time self-sustaining.

respectfully, your obedient servant,