HEADQUARTERS NINTH CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT,
Saint Charles, Mo., April 29, 1864.

Colonel E. B. ALEXANDER,

Actg. Asst. Prov. March General, Saint Louis, Mo.:

COLONEL: Your telegram received at 5.30 o'clock, and hence I reply by mail. I cannot enroll in Callaway without troops, and four townships in that county are untouched. With troops they can be finished in a few days. On Tuesday morning, as per arrangement with General Rosecrans, I telegraphed General Fisk. Receiving no reply, I again telegraphed the enrollment would be done in a week, but the change in district commanders caused the troops in Callaway to be withdrawn.

Very respectfully, your obedient servant,

WM. F. SWITZLER,

Captain and Provost-Marshal, Ninth District, Missouri.

[Indorsement.]

HDQRS. ACTG. ASST. PROV. March General,
Saint Louis, Mo., April 30, 1864.

Respectfully referred to General W. S. Rosecrans, commanding department, for his action.

E. B. ALEXANDER,

Colonel, U. S. Army, Actg. Asst. Prov. March General, Mo.

HDQRS. SECOND BRIGADE, DIST. OF SOUTH KANSAS,
Mound City, April 29, 1864.

Captain GEORGE S. HAMPTON,

Assistant Adjutant-General:

I received information to-day, which I consider reliable, that there is a force of bushwhackers, say 30, in the vicinity of Papinsville, on the Osage River, 25 miles from Potosi, southeast of this point, near the State line. Potosi is a point where troops should be stationed. It is the route by which the bushwhackers have always entered, being thickly timbered and low, and, so far as I can learn, the citizens are a little mixed as to loyalty. I would consider the border as well protected as is possible had I a company there.

Ball's Mills, in Missouri, is a strong point on the Little Osage, which has always been garrisoned with troops from Fort Scott, but I presume we have none there now. I intend going to Fort Scott on the 1st, to see Colonel Blair as to stations of troops, and will return on the 2nd. Could not a company or two of the Sixteenth be sent to Fort Scott for post duty, and Company F, Eleventh, now there, be ordered to report to me? I have had several citizens in this morning from Mine Creek, on the subject of protection; they are evidently getting scared. I make this hasty statement for the information and consideration of the commanding general, and am holding the stage that it may reach you to-night.

Respectfully, your obedient servant,

THO. MOONLIGHT,

Colonel Eleventh Kansas Cavalry, Commanding.

23 R R-VOL XXXIV, PT III