| Headquarters Sub-Military District of
Houston |
| Beaumont, Tex., September 26, 1862 |
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| Capt. C. M. Mason |
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Acting Assistant Adjutant-General, &c.
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Captain,
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| I reached this place
yesterday at 3 p.m. with 743 men of Elmore's regiment.
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Please find herewith Colonel Spaight's report on the
late events at Sabine Pass. I concur with him in the belief that a
large force could have done no more than Major Irvine's command,
having no guns of sufficient range to answer those of the enemy. The
engine and rolling stock on the Sabine Pass {Eastern
Texas} Railroad are all safe. I have received information
(not very reliable) that the enemy landed a force variously
estimated at from 15 to 100 men, who hoisted the United States flag
at Sabine Pass and signified their will to procure beeves, by
purchase or otherwise, promising the inhabitants, whose number has
been considerably reduced by death and escape, that they would not
harm them if not interfered with by us.
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| I sent upon my arrival some
scouts, whose return I expect some time to-day. I intend also to
reconnoiter the country between here and Sabine Pass on the
railroad, represented to me to be the only route by which access can
be had through the marshes that surround that place. |
|
Colonel Spaight's command is reuniting fast upon the
news of the presence of the enemy. I will send his mounted men to
drive off the beeves from the neighborhood of Sabine Pass. I shall
also send to Orange a company or two of infantry to protect the
railroad and several hundred bales of cotton deposited there from
forays by small parties up the river. *****
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I have the honor to be, very respectfully, your obedient servant,
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| X. B. Debray |
| Colonel, Comdg. Sub-Military District of
Houston |