and if the danger is passed there you will immediately return to Memphis. You will communicate with all the boats you may meet on your way up, and if General Washburn is on board any of them, you will show him this order, and receive orders from him. If in your best judgment, after consultation with General Meredith, danger is imminent at Paducah, you will remain there until you receive orders from headquarters District of West Tennessee, or other competent authority. Keep at least one company on each side of the boat on picket to return any fire you may receive.

Your obedient servant,

M. L. SMITH,

Brigadier-General of Volunteers.

GENERAL ORDERS,
HEADQUARTERS SAINT LOUIS DISTRICT, Numbers 51.
Saint Louis, Mo., October 26, 1864.

With profound sorrow the general commanding announces the mournful intelligence of the murder of Major James Wilson, Third Cavalry Missouri State Militia, and six of his command. On the 27th day of September they were taken in fair fight at Pilot Knob by Brigadier-General Fagan's command and were subjected to every indignity which malignant cowardice could invent until the 5th [3rd] instant, when they were delivered ten miles west of Union, Mo., by order of the rebel field officer of the day, to the guerrilla Tim Reves for execution. Their bodies were found yesterday, and that of Major Wilson, though riddled by bullets and mutilated from long exposure, was identified by the uniform and private and official papers found upon it, as well as by the personal recognition of his associates in service. He was an officer of rare intelligence, zeal, courage, and judgment, and his soldierly virtues were adorned by a purity, unselfishness, and integrity of character which won the love, respect, and trust alike of his subordinates and superiors. When the war broke out he entered the service a private, and by that act of devotion to the Government severed almost all ties that bound him to family and home. Comrades! cherish the memory of his resplendent virtues, follow his patriotic example, and justly avenge his fiendish murder. Colonel J. H. Baker, commanding the post of Saint Louis, will cause the body of Major Wilson to be received at the depot with a proper escort and will arrange for its burial here with military honors.

By order of Brigadier General Thomas Ewing:

H. HANNAHS,

Acting Assistant Adjutant-General.

SPECIAL ORDERS,
HDQRS. DEPARTMENT OF THE MISSOURI, Numbers 297.
Saint Louis, Mo., October 26, 1864.

1. The detachment of the Thirtieth Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry, having reported at these headquarters in accordance with Special Orders, Numbers 217, paragraph 1, current series, from headquarters District of Minnesota, will proceed to and take post at Benton Barracks, Mo., reporting for temporary duty to Brigadier General Thomas Ewing, jr., commanding Saint Louis District, until such time as the main portion of the regiment shall arrive from the District of Minnesota.

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