RICHMOND, MO., June 30, 1864.

General FISK:

DEAR SIR: Desirous of promoting the peace and quiet of my own county is my apology for addressing you this letter. Doubtless it has been represented to you that the condition of matters in this county is very unsettled, and, in the opinion of some, alarming. I have been a resident of this county eighteen or twenty years, and must say that at no time during that period have the people or citizens manifested a disposition to be more peaceable and quiet than they have for the last six or seven months, and are disposed to remain so if permitted. Soldiers kept on service to keep the citizens of Ray county quiet are unnecessary. They are determined to be quiet and orderly, if allowed to be so. All that soldiers are needed for in this county is to look after outsiders, or those thieves that may come into the county to rob, plunder, &c. To guard against such characters 60 or 80 men at most are ample, and can do as much to prevent thieves from coming into the county as half a regiment of men.

It is the regret of a large majority of the people here that Captain Tiffin should be taken out of the county and assigned to duty in another. He has the entire confidence of three-fourths of the people of Ray County. He is a reliable, trustworthy gentleman, a faithful and efficient officer, as he has proved himself to be since he has had command of this county. A more efficient and vigilant officer and more reliable men than those under him are not to be found in this State, I care not who they are. Since he has been in command in the county fewer depredations have been committed by outsiders than wee demitted even during the time Colonel A. J. Barr was in command, assisted by his entire regiment. No commander, I care not what may be the size of his command, can prevent thieves from occasionally entering this county, bordering as it does upon a district infested with thieves, robbers, &c.

Only night before last our county town, Camden, 7 miles distant, on the Missouri River, was entered by only two thieves from across the river, and the town robbed; this, too, occurring after Captain Tiffin had been removed from the county, and it placed under the control of a new commander, said to be more vigilant than Captain Tiffin and with more efficient men than his (Tiffin's). I do not blame the commander or his men for this depredation. They could not prevent it, yet if the robbing of the same town was discreditable to Captain Tiffin when he was in command, so should the robbery of it now be discreditable to those officers now in command. My opinion is that neither of them is to blame.

I must say, since the military force of this county has been increased, that some of the soldiers recently called into service have so mistreated and abused some of the citizens as to cause them to leave the county. The individuals thus mistreated, it is true, were Southern sympathizers, but had, early in our troubles, taken the oath and given bond, and have been at home ever since as peaceable and quiet citizens, attending strictly to their own business.

Such persons were promised protection and security, both by the State and General Governments, if they would become quiet, orderly, and law-abiding subjects of the Government. If those placed over us in military command, and to whom we are to look for security and protection, fail to give it or see that it is rendered, I