CHILLICOTHE, July 29, 1864.

General C. B. FISK:

I have just arrived here. Received your dispatch this morning. Command camped twelve miles west; will arrive here by 10 a. m. tomorrow. My men are anxious to return to their wasting crops. Men and horses much jaded. What number shall I hold for the orders indicated in your dispatch. No guerrillas found or heard from between Crooked and Grand Rivers. We have pretty thoroughly examined the country between those rivers and south of railroad. Request an early reply.

J. H. SHANKLIN,

Colonel, Commanding Enrolled Missouri Militia.

SAINT JOSEPH, July 29, 1864.

Colonel J. H. SHANKLIN,

Chillicothe:

Your telegram is received. How many of your men con be well sparred from their homes at at this time? I want a force sufficient at Chillicothe to protect well the city, the railroad bridges in the vicinity, and move a good scout into the country at the same time, and I will leave it with Colonel Swain to decide how many of your men he had better retain, allowing such to go home as are the most required at home. We are far from being out of danger. Although your column did not fall in with the villains, yet they are still with us, breaking up into small squads and then uniting in a remote section. To-day they are in force in Platte County; to-morrow they may be where your force camps tonight. What an infernal warfare this is. Their plan is to sack and rob our largest towns. Chillicothe especially is marked for its money. Colonel McFerran gets the same information at Lexington that I do here, viz, the destruction of the railroads and the plunder of towns. Keep pretty good force at and near Chillicothe. Your command, for their prompt coming out and their patient service in the extreme heat and dust of the summer solstice, deserve and have my hearty thanks. I wish they could have fallen upon the fiends who are trying to destroy us, and given them a taste of the strong-armed loyalty of Grundy.

CLINTON B. FISK,

Brigadier-General.

CAMERON, July 29, 1864.

General FISK,

Saint Joseph:

I have just arrived from scout with First Iowa Cavalry. I saw no bands of guerrillas on the trip.

JNO. McDERMOTT,

Captain, Commanding First Iowa Cavalry.

SAINT JOSEPH, July 29, 1864.

Captain JOHN McDERMOTT,

First Iowa Cavalry, Cameron:

March your command to Saint Joseph without delay. If you hear of any guerrillas near your route of march, visit them with destruction and then report at my headquarters.

CLINTON B. FISK,

Brigadier-General.