Earl Van Dorn to Executive Department, September 4, 1861

No. 17. San Antonio, Tex., September 4, 1861. By orders from the War Department the undersigned has been relieved in command of the Department of Texas, and is directed to report at the headquarters of the Army, at Richmond. He takes leave of the troops and of the people of Texas with unfeigned regret. From them he has, as military commander, received at all times their most hearty Y CHAP. XI.] CORRESPONDENCE, ETC.—CONFEDERATE, co-operation and assistance, and as a private citizen such uniform kindness and attention, that he would do injustiee to himself did he not here, on the eve of his departure from among them, express both his thanks for their kindness and his regret that he has to leave them. The command, until the arrival of General Hébert, is turned over to Col. Henry E. McCulloch, than whom there is not a more reliable soldier and pure gentleman-in the Army of the Confederacy. the most distinguished graduate of his class at West Point; afterwards an officer in the Engineer Corps (Corps de Genie); then the lieutenantcolonel of a regiment of infantry during the war between the United States and Mexico, and subsequently the governor of the State of Louisiana. He is an able general and a high-toned gentleman. The troops of Texas will find no cause to complain of the change of commanders. The undersigned further returns his special thanks to the staff officers at these headquarters for their valuable assistance: Maj. Sackfield Maclin, chief quartermaster; Capt. T. A. Washington, assistant adjutant-general; Capt. J. F. Minter, assistant quartermaster and commissary; Surgeon Langworthy, and Lieutenant Haskell, ordnance officer. Their energy, skill, and devoted hard labor, in the discharge of their duties in their respective departments, relieved him from painful anxiety, and gave such harmony to the working of the affairs of the department, that there has been no confusion and no deficiency, except where material was wanting and where time and distance were incompatible. – The command of the Department of Texas is here given up by the undersigned to Col. Henry E. McCulloch, and “he bids you farewell.”

EARL VAN DORN,