with a few facts in regard to the operations of the guerrillas and bushwhackers in this vicinity. They have hitherto confined their operations to robbing Union men of Missouri, with few exceptions. They are now invading Kansas and robbing Santa Fe trains leaving this city, and this is of nightly occurrence.

These Mexicans are all loyal citizens, and deserve the protection of United States troops. They only ask a slight aid from the military, being able and willing to defend themselves, if permitted to do so; but their arms have been taken from them by the commander at Westport, as I am informed, and they are defenseless. The citizens of this city consider it the duty of the military authorities to furnish the necessary protection to these loyal people, as well as to the trade of this place.

As an officer, I can only recommend that adequate protection be immediately furnished.

The circumstances of these attacks upon the Mexican trains are most atrocious, as will be explained by the officers above named.

Very respectfully, your obedient servant,

THEO. S. CASE.

Captain and Assistant Quartermaster.

WASHINGTON, D. C., May 22, 1863

Major General JOHN M. SCHOFIELD,

Saint Louis, Mo.:

GENERAL: You have been ordered, by the direction of the President, to relieve Major General S. R. Curtis from the command of the Department of the Missouri. This is one of the most important military departments in the United States, and the command,will require the exercise of military talent as well as administrative ability, and the utmost vigilance. Your acquaintance with the country and the leading men of your department will be of great value to you in the performance of the arduous and important duties of your command.

It is not intended to embarrass you with minute and detailed instructions. The correspondence between these headquarters and Major-General Curtis will put you in possession of the general views of the Government in regard to military operations. I will state them briefly.

General Curtis' Pea Ridge campaign was simply to expel Price's army from Missouri; that was not deemed a proper line by which to invade Arkansas. Hence he was directed to unite with Steele and move down White River. As soon as the Mississippi was opened to the Arkansas, the former became the true base and the latter the true line of operations. I endeavored to impress this upon General Curtis. But he brought troops from Helena to operate from Pilot Knob, and again pushed forward a column into Western Arkansas. If, on the contrary, he had simply held two or three fortified points, like Springfield, Rolla, and Pilot Knob, and pushed his entire force from the all fear of invasion and the enemy kept south of the Arkansas River.

Again, my dispatches to General Curtis will show that I have frequently urged upon him not to scatter his troops so much in the interior of the department, but to push them forward for the defense of the southern frontier, and send all who could be spared for such purpose down the Mississippi or to General Rosecrans; but it seems that the