Today in History:

431 Series I Volume XLVIII-II Serial 102 - Powder River Expedition Part II

Page 431 Chapter LX. CORRESPONDENCE, ETC. -UNION.

Second. The Second Sub-District will comprise the counties of Jackson, Lafayette, and Saline, headquarters at Lexington, Mo., Lieutenant Colonel John Pinger, Forty-third Missouri Volunteer Infantry, commanding.

Third. The Third Sub-District will comprise the counties of Bates, Henry, Johnson, and all of Saint Clair and Vernon Counties north of the Osage River, headquarters at Pleasant Hill, Mo., Colonel L. Martin, Fifty-first Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry, commanding.

II. All communications, reports, and returns made by subordinate officers to these headquarters will be transmitted through their respective sub-district headquarters.

III. Sub-district commanders will make a semi-monthly report to this office of the operations of the troops under their command, embracing fights, &c.

* * * * *

By order of Colonel Chester Harding:

C. G. LAURANT,

Captain and Assistant Adjutant-General.

WARRENSBURG, MO., May 13, 1865.

COMMANDING OFFICER,

Booneville:

Clement, with 150 guerrillas, is reported as having crossed from Greenton Valley to the Saline line near Waverly. Notify the different posts; also keep the cavalry on the alert, as he may strike for Rocheport.

C. HARDING, JR.,

Colonel, Commanding.


HEADQUARTERS CENTRAL DISTRICT OF MISSOURI,
Warrensburg, Mo., May 13, 1865.

Colonel L. MARTIN,

Commanding Third Sub-District, Central District of Missouri:

SIR: We have no recognized Confederate forces to fight in this district, and no large bodies of men of any kind. Deserters from Kirby Smith's army, guerrillas and bushwhackers, who have been in some way attached to it, are making their way into this district, some with the expectation of giving themselves up and some for the purpose of plunder and murder. Most of those now in the district have come into the State below its southern boundary and entered it in Bates County, where there are very few inhabitants. Their general course is by Johnstown and Rose Hill to the Sni Hills or into Greenton Valley.

Nearly all of them desire to cross the Missouri River, but the banks of it are so well guarded that few can get to it. Hence they concentrate in this district and we have the task of getting rid of them assigned to us. The troops under your command are expected to be used: First. To meet the returning rebels where they first show themselves. Second. To hunt up and exterminate those already in your subdistrict. Third. To guard the mail line and line of the Pacific Railroad in your sub-district thoroughly. Fourth. To give encouragement to farmers to put in crops, protecting them as far as possible by frequent scouts, organizing neighborhoods for self-protection and the like. The


Page 431 Chapter LX. CORRESPONDENCE, ETC. -UNION.