HDQRS. DIST. OF MINNESOTA, DEPT. OF THE NORTHWEST,
Saint Paul, Minn., August 17, 1864.

Lieutenant-General PFAENDER,

Commanding Second Sub-District, Fort Ridgely:

COLONEL: Your dispatch of the 15th instant, with copy of communication from the scouts' camp on the Redwood, was delivered at these headquarters before midnight yesterday. The forty men under Lieutenant Darrow would probably report to you in season to be dispatched with any other available force at hand to follow the Indians under direction of the scouts and inflict summary punishment upon them. General Sibley does not believe, now that the savages know themselves to have been discovered, that they will make any further demonstrations for the present, but rather endeavor to evade pursuit. In any event the scouts should keep a watch upon their movements and thus be prepared to give all requisite information. Dispatches were mailed to you from these headquarters last evening, and a dispatch addressed to you on the 15th instant anticipated your action in calling upon the officers of the militia force for co-operative aid, as you were therein directed in case of emergency to call upon them. It is highly necessary in case of any movements being made by these Indians, or others threatening the settlements, that you should at once communicate to these headquarters all the particulars you can obtain, so such re-enforcements as can be spared from other points can be at once dispatched to that portion of the line which is specially menaced. The stations on the north of the Minnesota River should be visited frequently by the officers of the cavalry company stationed at these outposts, that they may enforce due vigilance and caution on the part of the men who are too apt to become careless and negligent until too late to apply a remedy. There should be no cessation of vigilance day and night along the whole line. You are requested to state, for the information of the brigadier-general commanding, whether Scouts Stevens and Wilson are diligently and constantly employed in the discharge of the important duty intrusted to them. It has been reported unofficially to him that the latter has been absent on a visit to Saint Paul for a longer or shorter time without any authority. If one or both are not the right men for the position they will be displaced and more efficient men employed in their stead. General Sibley would be rejoiced to learn that some at least of the maruding villains who infest the frontier have received their just deserters.

By command of Brigadier-General Sibley:

I am, colonel, very respectfully, your obedient servant,

GEO. W. PRESCOTT,

Lieutenant, Aide-de-Camp, and Acting Assistant Adjutant-General.

HEADQUARTERS FORT WADSWORTH, DAK. TER.,
August 17, 1864.

Captain R. C. OLIN,

Assistant Adjutant-General, Hdqrs. Dist. of Minnesota:

SIR: I have the honor to report the work of erecting and constructing buildings as progressing as rapidly as possible. The men, seeing the necessity of having quarters this winter and shelter from the storms, one of which visited us this week are working energetically. Our saw-mill commenced running to-day, and from present indications I presume it will soon turn out considerable lumber. My scouts have