HEADQUARTERS SAINT LOUIS DISTRICT,
Saint Louis, January 8, 1865.

Brigadier-General EWING,

Leavenworth:

The Thirty-ninth Missouri Volunteers has been ordered to report for duty. Would it not be well to send all the Seventh Kansas Cavalry to the Third Sub-District, as they are all now mounted, and put infantry on the bridges and at Hermann and Franklin instead? This would enable Colonel Hiller to station a strong scouting force at Patterson and Centerville. The garrison at Caruthersville has been withdrawn by orders from department headquarters and put at Bloomfield.

H. HANNAHS,

Major and Acting Assistant Adjutant-General.

SPECIAL ORDERS,
HEADQUARTERS SAINT LOUIS DEPARTMENT,

Numbers 6.
Saint Louis, Mo., January 8, 1865.

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2. Pursuant to instructions from department headquarters of the 7th instant, First Lieutenant C. G. Anderson, Company E, Second Missouri Cavalry, is detailed to take charge of a detachment consisting of two commissioned officers and sixty mechanics, the names of whom are herewith attached, and proceed on Monday, the 9th instant, on the morning train by railroad to the bridges on the Southwest Branch, Pacific Railroad, and construct block-houses for the defense of said bridges. Plans for block-houses will be, on application, furnished at department headquarters. Teams, tools, and subsistence will be furnished by the quartermaster and commissary at Franklin. In selecting sites for the block-houses great care will be exorcised to obtain points that command the bridges, and if possible points that are not commanded from other points around. The transportation will be furnished by the Pacific Company free of charge to the Government.

3. The Thirty-ninth Missouri Volunteers, Lieutenant Colonel E. A. Kutzner commanding, having reported in compliance with orders from department headquarters, will report to Colonel Booneville, commanding Benton Barracks.

By order of Brigadier-General Ewing:

H. HANNAHS,

Major Fiftieth Missouri Volunteers and Actg. Asst. Adjt. General

PILOT KNOB, January 8, 1865.

Colonel H. M. Hiller:

(Care of headquarters Saint Louis District.)

Captain Lonergan has pretty reliable information that Parson Pratt and Lieutenant Chitwood with about forty rebels are rendezvousing and conscripting at the forks of Logan's Creek, and Reynolds County. We have not hardly men enough here to look after these brigands.

G. D. O. KELLMAN,

Acting Assistant Adjutant-General.