By order of the general commanding, the brigade marched for Cape Girardeau on the morning of the 3rd, and, notwithstanding the wretched state of the roads, arrived in good condition at noon on the 7th.

Very respectfully, your obedient servant,

O. H. LA GRANGE,

Colonel First Wisconsin Cavalry, Commanding Brigade.

General JOHN McNEIL,

Commanding U. S. Forces, Cape Girardeau, Mo.

Numbers 8. Report of Colonel R. R. Livingston, First Nebraska Infantry, of the pursuit of Marmaduke.

SAINT LOUIS, April 30., 1863.

CAPTAIN: Having been instructed, on the night of the 25th instant, by order (copy of which I inclose, marked A.), to take charge of the Thirty-seventh Regiment Illinois Volunteer Infantry, Captain Brown's company (G), Twenty-third Regiments Missouri Volunteer Infantry, and 20 men, under Lieutenant Ewing, Twenty-third Iowa, to see them shipped without delay to re-enforce the post of Cape Girardeau, then return to this post immediately after the attack had ceased, I have the honor to reports as follows;

We arrived at Cape Girardeau on Sunday, 26th instant, at 2.50 p. m., just as the firing on both sides ceased for that day. I turned over my and was ordered by him to move with the companies of the Thirty-seventh Illinois Infantry, under Captain [Charles W.] Hawes, to report to Lieutenant-Colonel [William] Baumer, at Fort B, as the enemy were attempting to flank our right. Shortly afterward I received an order to take change of my own regiment; but, finding the conduct of Lieutenant-Colonel Baumer, of the First Nebraska, all that could be desired, I, in the spirit of a soldier, permitted him to retain the command he had fought so gallantly previous to my arrival. Fearing a night attack, I went with General McNeil, and arranged a system of signals with two gunboats, then lying in the Mississippi River, opposite the town, by which they could direct their fire where it would be most effective. General McNeil, at my suggestion, also sent for re-enforcements to General Asboth, commanding at Columbus, Ky., whose promptness in forwarding the troops is deserving of all praise.

When daylight broke, the enemy had not appeared before our pickets, and two detachments of cavalry were sent out to feel them; but it was not before 11.30 a. m., the 27th instant, that the retrograde movement of the enemy toward Bloomfield was definitely ascertained; and at 2 p. m. two regiments of cavalry (First Wisconsin and Second Missouri), four guns of Welfley's battery, two mountain howitzers, and two companies of Colonel McLane's Missouri Militia moved out in pursuit, on the Bloomfield road. Arriving near Black Creek, the advance under Major [William H.] Torrey, First Wisconsin, drove a small force of the enemy from the bridge, which they had commenced to destroy, by tearing up plank and piling dry stakes in the bridges, preparatory to firing it. The bridge was speedily repaired, and we pushed on to the junction of the Jackson and Bloomfield roads, where was met the advance of Gen-