Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Chapter XXII: Operations in Kentucky, Tennessee, North Mississippi, North Alabama, and Southwest Virginia. March 4-June 10, 1862., Part II: Correspondence, Orders, and Returns.
Lieut. Col. Robert N. Scott, Ed.

General orders, no. 31.

I. The attention of all officers of this department is called to the regulations of the Treasury Department in regard to trade in the insurrectionary States. Persons having permits from the proper revenue officers will be allowed to trade freely outside of the lines of our camps, unless they violate the conditions of their permits or some military regulation, in which case they will be arrested and reported to these headquarters.

II. Military officers will not interfere with the shipment of cotton and other products of the country nor with the landing of goods under Treasury permits except in case of suspicion of improper traffic, in which case the facts will be reported as above.

III. No one will be permitted to seize cotton in the hands of the owners, unless it be exposed to be destroyed by the enemy, in which case it will be receipted for and be immediately turned over to the quartermaster's department. Cotton so seized will be shipped to market and sold at public auction, the proceeds, after deducting expenses, to be accounted for to the owner, unless such owner is in the rebel ranks or is rendering assistance to the enemy, in which case the money will be retained, to be disposed of as may hereafter be determined. Commanding officers will be careful that this authority is not abused and that the quiet people of the country are assured that their property and legitimate business will not be interfered with.

By command of Major-General Halleck:

To hasten the work I will send one brigade (Hascall's) across Bear Creek to Buzzard Roost Creek. The Engineer Regiment has force enough to prosecute the work on both bridges at the same time, and I trust by the arrangement to get both done in about half the time that would be required if the work were done one at a time.

Please furnish General Halleck with a copy.

Mitchel reports to me, on what he thinks reliable authority, that on the 28th ultimo Beauregard telegraphed Leadbetter at Chattanooga to cross the river and hold the northern side, especially Winchester, at all hazards, and that some artillery, and possibly some infantry, had already been sent over. Mitchel drove the enemy's cavalry out of Winchester on the 2d and was moving toward Jasper, from which he considered his force sufficient to drive the enemy even if all the troops of Leadbetter should be found there.

If Beauregard has given such orders they may perhaps be regarded as premonitory of some further design.