CAPE GIRARDEAU, December 19, 1864.

General EWING,

Commanding:

I hear of Reves and Bowles with a small force on Cherokee Bay. I think with your permission of sending a force down there after them. I am informed that they are collecting supplies of hogs and cattle there for the rebel army, and think I could make a pretty good haul of them. Reves is said to be sick, so as to be unable to travel. If the Saint Francis is not too high, I think I can make the trip in about ten days or perhaps less. What do you think of it?

J. B. ROGERS,

Colonel, Commanding.

HEADQUARTERS SAINT LOUIS DISTRICT,
Saint Louis, December 19, 1864.

Colonel J. B. ROGERS,

Commanding Second Sub-District, Cape Girardeau:

I entirely approved your proportion for the expedition.

THOMAS EWING, Jr.,

Brigadier-General.

SAINT LOUIS, December 19, 1864-5 p. m.

COMMANDING OFFICER, Springfield, Mo.:

I desire some reliable scouts kept out in extreme southwest; there are reports of movements of rebels in that quarter. Send any information you may get.

G. M. DODGE,

Major-General.

PARIS, MO., December 19, 1864.

General C. B. FISK, Macon, Mo.:

DEAR SIR: We are gratified to be able to state that our county is once more in tolerable condition. As you are aware, Captain McNutt has a company of 110 men organized and armed with good muskets. We are also glad to able to say that a portion of our people are manifesting a disposition to take hold of this thing of ridding the county of all persons who resist the Government and its constituted authority. We think that Captain McNutt's company will be the most efficient organization that has ever been raised in the enemy; there are men in it who are interested in the welfare of the county, and they know from experience that unless there is a change in this county that the good men of the county will have to leave it. Captain McNutt will have great trouble in mounting his men, for, general, our county has few, very few, horses that are suitable for cavalry horses. This is owing to the great number that have taken by the bushwhackers as well as many that were rightfully taken by the troops in their hunts after bushwhackers, but there have been a great many wrongfully taken by our own troops. Especially was this the case with the Knox County militia, and we learn that you have ordered the matter inquired into, and we would suggest, general, that so many of the horses as are suitable that may be recovered be turned over to Captain McNutt for the use of his company, for he needs horses very badly. To justify the favorable opinion that we entertain of Captain McNutt and his com-