HEADQUARTERS SAINT LOUIS DISTRICT,
Saint Louis, Mo., August 28, 1862.

Major-General HALLECK, General-in-Chief, Washington, D. C.:

GENERAL: I have the honor to inclose dispatched received from General Curtis and General Totten (the latter is now in command at Springfield), which will show how difficult it is for me to arrive at any accurate estimate of the force that will be required for service in Missouri.

Making due allowance for the temperament of each of the generals named, and for their respective sources of information, I am satisfied that a very considerable increase of my force in Southwestern Missouri will be necessary perhaps before the new troops can be brought into the field and made effective. If so, I must leave a large part of the State under such protection as the Enrolled Militia can give. I am organizing and arming the militia as rapidly as possible, and many of them have been doing good service for two or three weeks. They will soon able to take care of a large part of the State, provided we gain a success in Arkansas, which will destroy in the ignorant rebel mind the hope that "Price is coming."

If General Blunt's command could be united to General Totten's, with such re-enforcements as I can give them in a few days, I believe a successful movement could be made to Fort Smith without delay, which, with vigorous action on the part of General Curtis' command, would settle the matter at once, before the rebels have time organize in the western part of Arkansas.

I am, general, very respectfully, your obedient servant,

J. M. SCHOFIELD,

Brigadier-General.

[Inclosure.]

HELENA, ARK., via Cairo, August 25 1862.

Brigadier-General SCHOFIELD:

Two men, right from Little Rock, report Rains and Coffee at Fort Smith. Pike under arrest. Hindman, with about 3,000 troops, going to Fort Smith to try and resist Kansas troops. McBride is at Batesville. No troops in Northern Arkansas. Price has gone east. No invasion of Missouri. Holmes is now in command in Arkansas. Talks of driving me from the State. Will have a good time of it. News reliable.

S. R. CURTIS,

Major-General.

SPRINGFIELD, August 28, 1862.

Brigadier General JOHN M. SCHOFIELD:

From Neosho, and latter from Mount Vernon, Colonel Wright reports as reliable that the enemy are concentrating and intend moving north. This information he derives from various reliable sources, and he believes the matter is correct. The same information comes to General Brown, and he has no doubt of its reliability, and I am myself satisfied there is no doubt of such an intention on the part of the rebels. The three States of Louisiana, Arkansas, and Texas are in the combination, and Missouri is to be the battle ground. The four Governors of these States met in convention at Tyler, Tex., and resolved that the only alternative was to invade Missouri for subsistence, and that a death struggle must ensue or gain the point.