CASSVILLE, MO., October 13, 1862.

Major General SAMUEL R. CURTIS:

GENERAL: Your dispatch of to-day is received; also that of the 7th came by express this morning. My information agrees with yours as to the positions of Holmes, Hindman, and others. This leaves the force in front of me, as I stated in my dispatch last night, from 17,000 to 20,000, with sixteen or eighteen pieces of artillery. Not more than 10,000 are well armed and not more than 15,000 are armed at all. They impress every man wherever they go, and have several thousand without arms. I have driven them from the country upon which they relied for subsistence and forage. They must fight, starve, or retreat into the Arkansas Valley. There is plenty of corn and some of wheat in this part of Missouri. All the rebels planted large corn fields under Price's orders. I still think it probable the enemy will make an effort to regain a foothold here, and I hope will give me battle within a few days. They are starved, ragged,and dissatisfied at the failure of Price to support them at Newtonia, as was agreed upon. He started to come up, but was frightened by enormously exaggerated reports of my strength.

J. M. SCHOFIELD,

Brigadier-General.

CASSVILLE, MO., October 13, 1862.

Major General SAMUEL R. CURTIS:

General Herron will join me to-morrow. I then propose to drive the enemy across the mountains or make him fight. My desire is to clear out Northwestern Arkansas and then send General Blunt's command into the Indian Territory, so that the Indian refugees may return to their homes. I leave some cavalry at Crane Creek to watch the approaches from the White River country. After the condition of affairs in front is decided I can increase the force there if necessary. The organization of the militia will be very slow. All the men have been conscripted or driven from the country. The country should be occupied until the loyal men have time to return, be organized, and armed; it is the only practical way to hold the country permanently. To march through it and return will do more harm than good. I ought not to advance farther than I can be sustained in any probable contingency. I will get all the information possible and await your instructions as to the line of policy to be pursued.

J. M. SCHOFIELD,

Brigadier-General.

HEADQUARTERS POST,
Mount Vernon, Mo., October 13, 1862.

Colonel W. W. ORME, Commanding, Springfield, Mo.:

SIR: Inclosed herewith I forward to you a letter from Cockrell to General Hindman. The dispatch bearer was taken by a citizen of the west end of our country and handed over to Captain Stotts, who commands a company of Enrolled Missouri State Militia at Bower's Mills, and will be sent to Springfield in a short time. He is accompanied by a negro boy, who says he belongs to a Union man. He says that Cockrell is in Johnson County, Missouri, with about 30 men, and that Quantrill is in Jackson County with about 250 men. The prisoner is