F.K. Zollicoffer to J. P. BENJAMIN, Secretary of War, November 15, 1861

Hon. J. P. BENJAMIN, Secretary of War:

The ordnance officer at Nashville telegraphed me that none of my guns have been turned in, though the work was distributed. The machinery at Memphis broke, and none have been furnished here. I have moved 1,600 men to this point, with about 800 guns of every description. Order 2,400 to be sent me from those landed at Savannah, and I will give a good report from East Tennessee. ,

Brigadier-General, Commanding.

Richmond, November 17, 1861. Brigadier-General CARROLL, Chattanooga, Tenn.: All the arms received at Savannah that could be spared for the West have been forwarded to General A. S. Johnston. J. P. BENJAMIN, Acting Secretary of War.

KNOXVILLE, TENN., November 17, 1861. Lieutenant-Colonel MACKALL, Bowling Green, Ky. :

SIR: Having blockaded the roads over the mountains near Jacksborough, and believing the fortifications at Cumberland Gap very strong, I do not think an army train of the enemy ¿an pass the mountains anywhere between the Pound Gap, in Virginia, and J. acksborough, a distance of about 120 miles. I have started the regiments of Colonels Statham, Newman, Cummings, and Battle, the first” battalion of the Sixteenth Alabama Regiment, and Branner’s battalion of cavalry, with Rutledge’s battery, around by Wartburg, on the way to J. amestown, Tenn., and Monticello, Ky.

Icame here rapidly last night to obtain more definite information of

the state of things along the line of the railroad and among the tories’

generally. I will leave for Wartburg this evening, feeling that there is no necessity for remaining longer. General Carroll telegraphs me from Chattanooga that he is there with two regiments, half armed. I have ordered him here, with such of his command as are not engaged in pursuing Clift, a leading tory of Hamilton County, and his followers. Three different expeditions are moving from different points upon Clift’s men. I fear they will disperse and take to the mountain fastnesses, eluding our forces. A Pensacola regiment, I learn, is at Chattanooga, and a regiment from Virginia is near Elizabethton, I hear. The present indications are that the tories are about being rapidly overwhelmed. I am seizing arms of Union men known to be inimical to Confederate Government, and hope in this way to arm Carroll’s men who are not

already armed. I propose to take and strengthen a position between. Monticello and Somerset, giving us facilities for commanding the Cum- –

berland River, the coal region supplying Nashville, &c. If I can clear the banks of the Cumberland of our enemies, supplies may this winter be furnished us by boats from Nashville. Sosoonas the state of things will justify, I would be pleased that General Carroll brigade would support me in a forward movement. ,

Very respectfully,