SAINT LOUIS, December 21, 1864 - 10.27 a. m.

Captain G. A. HOLLOWAY,

Assistant Adjutant-General, Macon, Mo.:

Your resignation went forward yesterday approved. Lieutenant Tidswell will remain with me for the present. De Bolt will have to go to his regiment, I fear. Hynes can come to Saint Louis to-day; send mail by him. Direct De Bolt to release Williams on his own bond to appear for trial when called for. Relieve Colonel Denny from active service. Draper will go to Glasgow after Christmas. Hold the witness against the bushwhacking committee and advise me of his reliability. Will arrange for detective here.

CLINTON B. FISK,

Brigadier-General.

HEADQUARTERS DISTRICT OF CENTRAL MISSOURI,
Warrensburg, December 21, 1864.

Major BARNES,

Assistant Adjutant-General, Department, of the Missouri:

MAJOR: I have the honor to report the present status of military affairs in this district. That portion of the district south of the Pacific Railroad is remarkably quiet; no disturbance of any kind has occurred there for some time. The forces of the Enrolled Missouri Militia retained in active service being authorized only when the exigency of the military service demands it, I have felt justified in relieving from duty the company at Calhoun, Henry County, and all of Morton's company at Osceola, except fifty men, which is deemed amply sufficient by the loyal citizens there for their protection. On the unanimous recommendation of the Committee of Public Safety for Miller County, appointed under the provisions of General Order 107, I have relieved from active duty the force of Enrolled Missouri Militia in that county. What few guerrillas remain in the district are skulking about in the Counties of La Fayette and Saline, on the Missouri River. These two counties are the strongholds of treason in this district, and are never entirely free of the presence of rebels thieves and outlaws. A band of these have recently been quite troublesome and bold in Saline County. They range from Dover, La Fayette County, and Greenton Valley, down the Missouri River to Saline City near Arrow Rock. I have had a force after them in La Fayette Country for the past week, which drove them out. My opinion is that these bands hover along the river to serve as guides for rebel recruits from north side of river going south. I shall inaugurate the most rigorous measures for the destruction of these bands; and to prevent the return of similar parties the sympathizing citizens of that locality, who unquestionably give shelter and aid to guerrillas, will have to be sternly and severely dealt with. To accomplish the riddance of that country of these pests will require the sending there of an additional cavalry force, which I shall do at an early day.

Kansas City is the largest commercial point in the western part of the district. There is a large supply of quartermaster's, commissary, and hospital stores at that place, and I am under the necessity of sending two squadrons of cavalry there. These dispositions break in materially on the cavalry camps recently fitted up under my direction, though I trust they will satisfy the demands of the district for the winter,and leave the force so distributed permanent for awhile. The