August 23, 1862, Tupelo, Miss.,
Major General Sterling Price to Secretary of War George W. Randolph

HEADQUARTERS DISTRICT OF THE TENNESSEE,
Tupelo, August 23, 1862.

 Hon. GEORGE W. RANDOLPH,
Secretary of War:

SIR: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your communication of the 12th instant, and to say that I have in accordance therewith authorized Lieut. Col. Waldo P. Johnson, of the Fourth Missouri Infantry, to proceed beyond the Mississippi for the purpose of meeting and organizing the Missouri troops. A copy of my instructions to him are herewith transmitted to you. I am in doubt whether your letter empowers me, or whether, indeed, the rules of the Department permit you to empower me to Confer authority upon any one to raise troops in Missouri. The distance of that State from the seat of Government, however, and the consequent difficulty of communicating with the Department of War, and the peculiar condition of the State itself, all require that rules different from those that govern in the other States of the Confederacy should prevail there. I therefore   respectfully suggest to you the propriety of authorizing certain citizens of that State to raise troops within it for the Confederate service, which troops when raised will be reported to Colonel Johnson or some other Confederate officer. I beg leave to mention to you in this connection the names of the following gentlemen who might be safely intrusted with that authority. The Senators and Representatives from Missouri can advise you more particularly as to the fitness of these gentlemen, and they will be able to suggest to you other names which do not now occur to me: James H. McBride, of Texas County; Edwin W. Price, of Chariton; John B. Clark, jr., of Howard; John Q. Burbridge, of Pike; Edwin B. Hull, of Pike; Leonidas Campbell, of Greene; Joseph C. Porter, of Lewis; John T. Hughes, of Clinton; Thomas McCarty, of Clay; J. J. Clarkson, of Lawrence; Robert W. Crawford, of Dade; Charles B. Alexander, of Pettis; Caleb Dorsey, of Pike; D. Herndon Lindslay, of Saline; John H. Halley, of Putnam; Richard H. Musser, of Chariton; Ebenezer Magoffin, of Pettis; R. A. Boughan, of Vernon; Benjamin F. Walker, of Cedar; Francis J. Smith, of Jefferson; W. L. Jeffers, of Cape Girardeau; William H. Matthews, of Washington; [W. C.] Quantrill, of Jackson; John T. Coffee, of Dade; Alonzo W. Slayback, of Buchanan; Louis A. Welton, of Saint Louis; David C. Woods, of Saint Louis; -- Bruce, of Monroe; Fritz McCulloch, of Shelby. I have directed Mr. Edward T. Fristoe to accompany Colonel Johnson as acting assistant adjutant-general to aid in the organization of the troops. He is a graduate of the Virginia Military Institute, and was at the breaking out of the war professor of mathematics in the University of Missouri. He has been with the army for some time, and is a gentleman of high character, ability, and experience, and I hope that the President may be pleased to confer upon him an appointment with appropriate rank.

I have the honor to be, with the greatest respect, your obedient servant,

 STERLING PRICE,

 Major-General, Commanding.

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