Order, Numbers 24, series of 1862, from headquarters State of Missouri. These men were organized into companies ad regiments, under the direction of the State of Missouri, in the summer of 1863, for some purpose to me unknown. Of the policy that dictated this organization, or of the effect upon the loyal element thus to be guarded, protected, and watched by armed rebels, many of them fresh from the Confederate army, I say nothing. Representations were often and freely made to the proper authorities that these troops were doing a vast amount of harm to the loyal sentiment of the State of Missouri, and it was shown in many instances that these troops would in no case fight the guerrillas and thieves who infested the neighborhoods where they were stationed in the northwestern portion of the State. The officers and men of the Eighty- second Regiment Enrolled Missouri Militia allowed the Confederate Colonel Winston to remain safely harbored and protected in the county of Clay during the winter of 1863-'64, and used no exertion to arrest him, although his presence in their very midst was a well- established fact. They would not and did not arrest him. After the capture of Colonel Winston by Captain Kemper's company, or the Ninth Cavalry Missouri State Militia, it was a matter of continued report by these Paw Paw officers and soldiers that he had left a companion in Clay County commonly known as Coon Thornton, but whose name is John C. Calhoun Thornton, and who is reported to be a colonel in the rebel army. This man,it is well known, was recruiting for the Confederate service, and had several agents at work for him to this end in the counties of Platte, Clay, and Ray. It has even been the subject of conversation with these Paw Paw officers and myself that companies of the Eighty- first and Eighty- second Enrolled Missouri Militia were in league with Thornton, and that numbers of the men of certain companies had joined his organization. It was claimed that every effort possible had been made to arrest him, but without avail. The whole population of the district in which he was operating aided and informed him, and his work went on briskly and smoothly. Upon my accession to the command of the district I learned that all of the Eighty- first Enrolled Missouri Militia had been relieved from duty, but had been permitted to take their arms home to their houses, and it was often reported to me by loyal men that these armed rebels were one by one slipping out of sight into the brush with their arms, and upon diligent inquiry I ascertained these reports to be in the main true. I immediately ordered the disarming of these men, their arms to be delivered to the armory at Saint Joseph, Mo., and upon receipt of the order twelve men of Captain Cox's company, of the Eighty- first Enrolled Missouri Militia, took their arms and disappeared. The company commanded by Captain Bywater, at Camden Point, came in and delivered up their arms at Camden Point preparatory to sending them to Saint Joseph. They were stored in an old warehouse, and two men of the same company left on guard over them. The same night a small body of unarmed guerrillas rode into the town, surprised the guard, and carried off the guns and accouterments. Captain Bywater's company has not been heard of since ten. They belonged to the Eighty- first [Eighty- second] Enrolled Missouri Militia. On the occasion of a skirmish between loyal militia and bushwhacker, some of these Paw Paws were seen by their old acquaintances among the bushwhackers. Owing to the extreme difficulty of obtaining troops for service in this district, some of the best of these Paw Paw companies were retained on duty. Rumors of intended risings of the rebels were continually reaching my headquarters, and at length,on the morning of the 7th of