here will be sufficient. Let me know what you can do in the other direction.

J. M. SCHOFIELD,

Brigadier-General.

HEADQUARTERS NORTHEAST MISSOURI DIVISION.

Macon City, August 17, 1862.

Lieutenant Colonel C. W. MARSH,
Assistant Adjutant-General:

COLONEL: I have already informed the general somewhat by telegraph of the disposition of troops I have made to cover the necessity for larger forces at or near Lexington. These dispositions are in detail as follows, and will be carried out as near as the necessities of the case will permit, except so far as circumstances make their modification necessary.

The division to be sub-divided as follows:

First sub-division.-Schuyler, Scotland, Clarke, Lewis, Knox, Adair, Marion, Shelby, Ralls, and Monroe Counties, under immediate command of McNeil. Troops: McNeil's and Lipscomb's regiments, with one section of 2-pounder steel guns belonging to the Saint Joseph battery.

Second sub-division.-Macon County, Colonel Robinson's Twenty-third Missouri, and Enrolled Militia.

Third sub-division.-Chariton, Randolph, Boone, and Howard, Lieutenant-Colonel Shaffer, Merrill's Horse, and one company of Gray's regiment.

Fourth sub-division.-Callaway, Audrain, Pike, and Montgomery, Colonel Smart's regiment, and Enrolled Militia, part of Third Iowa Cavalry.

Fifth sub-division.-Lincoln, Warren, and Saint Charles, Colonel Krekel's regiment and Enrolled Militia.

This, with one section of the Indiana battery and the whole of Colonel Winter's regiment, to be used as circumstances may dictate and to the end that they may be disposed so as to be used for the support of the forces south of the river. I have ordered the section of the Indiana battery to be sent at once from Paris to Sturgeon, thence to Columbia, and as soon as I can spare Colonel Guitar will order his forces to Glasgow and Booneville.

I have been seriously embarrassed by Colonel Guitar neglecting to make any report of his whereabouts, strength, or line of operations, and the results of his marches and actions would have been much more fruitful had I known, as I should, what he knew of the enemy. In the case of the attack at Yellow Creek I would have been enabled to cut off any chance of Poindexter's retreat had I known what Guitar knew of the enemy when he left Laclede.

I find a very great degree of demoralization and disorder existing among nearly all the troops in the district. This requires time to remedy, and will probably require summary dealing with some of the officers. I shall not hesitate to apply the remedy when necessary, and have already done so at Palmyra.

My plans for the future, following the dispersion of the large bands, will be more fully set out for the general's approval in a following communication, to be forwarded as soon as my mind is fully made up as to the proper course to be pursued. The main features of this plan I have