citizen teams employed by Lieutenant York, post quartermaster, at Brownsville: I have twenty-four 6-mule teams complete, four of which are now employed in supplying water to this post. Besides this I have fourteen wagons, with harness complete, which cannot be employed for want of mules. Lieutenant York has employed from fifty to sixty citizen teams. With the above amount of transportation I have only been able to supply the commands at Brownsville with rations and quartermaster's stores.

It is necessary to send to the front daily 6,000 rations and 52,000 pounds of forage, requiring forty-one teams for its transportation from Brazos to the mouth of the Rio Grande, a distance of 20 miles the round trip, allowing them to make two trips in three days. It will therefore require a train of eighty-two wagons to keep up a constant supply. There is no transportation in any of the regiments except the First Texas Cavalry, which has ten teams, which, however, have never been employed in transportation from this point. The roads on Brazos and the mainland are very sandy, so that the wagons cannot be loaded very heavy. It will be almost impossible to employ good and efficient wagon-masters, blacksmiths, and shores to remain in the department at prices established by General Orders, No. 88, headquarters Department of the Gulf.

I have the honor to be, respectfully, your obedient servant,

TIMOTHY OWEN,

Captain,94th Ill. Vols.,and A. A. Q. M., 2nd Div., 13th A. C.

PATTERSON, MO., January 11, 1864.

Brigadier-General FISK:

Snow and ice have been so bad that my scouts cannot travel far. I sent 4 men after the remainder of the Tucker gang. They found and killed 3 of them. Crites was one of them. He was with the party that stole Cropland's mules. All is quiet here now.

W. T. LEEPER,

Captain, Commanding Post.

HDQRS. DETACH. FIFTH CAV., MISSOURI STATE MIL., Houston, Mo., January 11, 1864.

Captain J. LOVELL,
Assistant Adjutant-General, Rolla, Mo.:

CAPTAIN: I have the honor to submit the following as my report for the week ending January 10, 1864: Lieutenant Hillerich, Company G, with 30 men, arrived with train from Rolla on the 4th, having been absent ten days. On the 4th, I sent out a scout of 6 men, under command of Sergeant Dugan, Company G. They were out four days and succeeded in capturing 2 notorious bushwhackers and horse thieves, named, respectively, Jacob Rustin and John Inmon. The horses these men were riding were recognized as belonging to loyal citizens of this county, and upon proof I have delivered the horses to their respective owners. On the march to camp the prisoners attempted to make their escape by running, and were both instantly killed.

On the 5th, I sent an escort of 20 men with the train to Rolla, who have not yet returned. On the 4th, I started a spy with instructions to