few shots were exchanged, and the rebels retired. We suffered no loss in either affair. Captain Howk immediately moved up with his reserve force, and I dispatched Lieutenant Gray, with twenty-five men of Company M, from Napoleonville, making in all a force of 125 men. They moved up briskly beyond La Blanc's plantation, but could find no further trace of the enemy. From the letter which I send you herewith, taken from captured saddle-bags, and from other information, I conclude that the first rebel party was thirty men of Boone's battery, armed with stolen shotguns, and the second party was twenty-six men of some cavalry regiment, probably the Fourth Louisiana. Whether other forces are in reserve is a mattery of uncertainty, but I do not believe that there is any considerable force there. You will see from these letters that the battery left Bayou Boeuf after the 20th July, under the impression that the Union forces had left the district. I have just received your order by telegram to move my whole force in that direction and shall move at once.

Very respectfully, your obedient servant,

H. DAVIS,

Colonel, Commanding Post.

Captain B. B. CAMPBELL,

Acting Assistant Adjutant-General, La Fourche District.

JULY 31, 1864.

The expedition has returned safely. Both of the parties who attacked my pickets on Friday belonged to Boone's battery and were commanded by Lieutenant Picon, formerly of Donaldsonville, and were only after horses [and] plunder. They came to and crossed Bayou Grand on Friday night and after the affair of the pickets went back kiting across the bayou. The same night, about four or five miles from the bayou, they broke into squads, and leaving the road struck across the swamps to Grand River, which they crossed. The were in more hurry to get away than they were to come. I followed their tracks to the point where they broke up. The road this side the bayou is a mere wood track, almost impassable, the mud being often to the horses' bellies, and the swamp is perfectly impassable to any body of men. As I formerly reported to you, there are a few of Journal's cavalry at Point Marsigner, behind Plaquemine, but none between the La Fourche and that place. At the same time there are thieves and jayhawkers about in this parish. The party that went to Gentilly's plantation on Natchez Bay [returned] safely without [seeing] an enemy.

H. DAVIS,

Colonel, Commanding Post.

Captain B. B. CAMPBELL,

Acting assistant Adjutant-General.

JULY 29 - AUGUST 2, 1864.- Expedition from Warrensburg to Chapel Hill, Mo., with skirmish (July 30) near Chapel Hill.

Report of Lieutenant Elisha Horn, Seventh Missouri State Militia Cavalry.

CAMP GROVER,

Near Warrensburg, Mo., August 2, 1864.

COLONEL: Pursuant to Special Orders, Numbers 40, headquarters Camp Grover, July 27, 1864, in command of ninety-three men, I marched on the evening of the 29th of July, 1864, for the northwest part of Johnson