HEADQUARTERS DISTRICT OF SOUTHEASTERN MISSOURI,
Pilot Knob, Mo., November 26, 1863.

Captain W. PREUITT, Bloomfield:

McRae was reported at Doniphan, with a few hundred rebels, on Monday last, and was contemplating a raid either on Bloomfield or Patterson. He may move on you. I he does, he will only give the gallant First Missouri boys one more opportunity of demonstrating that they can't be whipped. We shall re-enforce you from Cape Girardeau and Greenville, if you need. Keep me constantly advised, and, if you get in trouble, press every man, horse, and gun within reach, and give the rascals such a Thanksgiving welcome as the survivors will be apt to remember.

CLINTON B. FISK,

Brigadier-General.

BLOOMFIELD, MO., November 26, 1863.

General FISK:

We have been threatened for some two or three days by what is reported to be about 300 men, concentrated by all the guerrilla chiefs in the country. I have been unable to ascertain who is in command of them. A party of them came in sight of our pickets within the last hour, I suppose for the purpose of reconnoitering. I am ready for them.

VALENTINE PREUITT,

Captain.

PATTERSON, MO., November 26, 1863.

General FISK:

I can hear nothing from below. There has not been any person up the road to-day. All travel is at once stopped. You can judge of the cause. I think they are stopped below. We are patrolling the country, but can hear nothing.

W. T. LEEPER,

Captain, Commanding Outpost.

HEADQUARTERS POST,
Jacksonport, Ark., November 26, 1863.

Lieutenant GEORGE O. SOKALSKI,

Acting Assistant Adjutant-General:

LIEUTENANT: Since my arrival here, as is usual, many conflicting rumors have found their way to camp but, from the best information I can obtain from my scouts and otherwise, General McRae is attempting to concentrate his forces at some point on Crowley's Ridge, in the neighborhood of Pineville or Wittsburg. He has now 1,500 men in his squads, with sa roll of 1,500 more that are scattered through the country, dodging him. There are a great many squads of armed men through the country, numbering from 20 to 50 per squad. McRae brought back with him a few of his most desperate men, who are commanding his deserters and conscripts. They annoy my pickets almost every night. I send out a scout every day, but find it very difficult to catch them, as they have the entire country picketed, and there are so many hiding places. About the only change to capture them would be to send force enough to make a regular "wolf-drive." McRae tells his men that when