regret very much the state of affairs in Louisiana, and should have visited you in person ere this had not my duties kept me so closely at headquarters.

It was represented to Governor Hall and General Rosecrans that Captain Baxter, and his company were totally demoralized, and guilty of committing numerous excesses and great wrong upon the community. It was also represented that the company was not needed on duty; on the contrary, they (the company) were producing all the troubles there were in the county. The representations were made by Colonel Broadhead and Messrs. Reid and Monaghan. I did not know that the governor had ordered them relieved until I had written to Colonel Anderson to exercise his own judgment as to whether the company should be continued on duty or not. I have this day seen Governor Hall, and he tells me of the representations made to him, as herein stated, and as yet he refuses to again order them on duty. The Governor is commander-in-chief, and no Enrolled Missouri Militia can be legally placed upon duty except by his order. The company was originally placed in active service by orders from Major-General Rosecrans, who supposed he had received full authority to call out the enrolled Missouri Militia. I write you thus fully that yourself an fellow-petitioners may understand the entire history of the case.

I have made an earnest request that Captain Baxter's company, or some other equally reliable, shall be immediately placed on duty in your county. While I have command of the district I shall use all the means in my power to afford protection to the lives and property of the people. You may assure the neighbors that I am not unmindful of their danger, and that I will leave no stone unburned to give them security from the rebels who steal, murder, and burn out Union men. I expect to visit Louisiana very soon and will be glad then to confer whit you personally.

With assurance of my great respect and consideration for the welfare of your community, the State, and the Union, I am, sir, very respectfully, your obedient servant,

CLINTON B. FISK,

Brigadier-General.

HEADQUARTERS DISTRICT OF NORTH MISSOURI, Saint Joseph, Mo., June 29, 1864.

M. ENGLISH, Esq.,
Glasgow, Mo.:

DEAR SIR: The general commanding directs me to acknowledge the receipt of your long and excellent letter of the 22nd instant, and in reply to thank you for the information contained therein, which is valuable, and to commend the earnest spirit of loyalty betokened in its composition. The general is fully aware of the intentions, objects, and aims of the sympathizers with rebellion, and of all complications of them with the approaching pollical campaign, and intends if possible to steer clear of the rock upon which his predecessors have split, but at the same time to work constantly and earnestly for the interests not only of North missouri but of the whole Union.

Loyalty has no conditions, neither are there grades of it, and yet in this unfortunate section you can find plenty of men whose loyalty

36 R R-VOL XXXIV, PT IV