HEADQUARTERS SUB-DISTRICT,
Cape Girardeau, Mo., May 20, 1864.

Brigadier-General EWING, Jr.,

Commanding District of Saint Louis, Saint Louis, Mo.:

GENERAL: I have the honor to report that about the 10th instant information was received from our scouts that Nathan Bolin, a notorious guerrilla chief, crossed the Saint Francis River below Hornesville with his band, supposed to be about 50 strong. I immediately notified the commanding officer at Charleston of his presence, and also sent parties to look for him from Bloomfield. On the 16th, I heard of some of his band having been at Sikeston. I immediately sent at midnight 150 men from the post to the vicinity, and ordered 80 men to endeavor to get below them from Bloomfield, and also all that could be spared from charleston to aid in the endeavor to find and punish the enemy; but owing to the dense foliage of the swamps and the high water in them, none of the parties succeeded in finding them although the search was very thorough, the men dismounting and scouting the swamp.

Soon after their return Bolin emerged from his hiding place and followed the command at not more than three hour's distance, and entered the small village of Hamburg and burned a Catholic church and set fire to some other buildings, and took a little plunder. He immediately fled to the swamp. Fifty men were immediately sent back to the vicinity, and two parties were sent from Bloomfield to endeavor to intercept them. They are sill out. I hope to be able to kill all of them, but the swamps and dense cover render it an undertaking difficult to accomplish.

I have the honor to be, general, very respectfully,

J. B. ROGERS,

Colonel, Commanding.

BOONVILLE, MO., May 20, 1864.

Major General W. S. ROSECRANS,

Commanding Department of the Missouri:

GENERAL: My letters go unanswered, but feeling that it is my duty, I will still continue to give you such information as I have in regard to our condition, begging that something may be done for the protection of the Union men of this county. I am reliably informed that there ares several small bands of bushwhackers and horse thieves prowling around through the county, stealing horses and committing other depredations. I have just learned that a band of 12 of them are encamped within 8 miles of Boonville, and I assure you that with a small addition to this number they could come into Boonville and rob and plunder as they please. I really think that we ought to have soldiers stationed here, as Boonville is quite an important place and one that the rebels hate perhaps more than any other in the State, as they have twice been defeated here.

The citizens are uneasy because we have no soldiers, no arms, no ammunition, no organization, no means of defending ourselves, even against a small number. If State militia cannot be spared, why not call out a company of enrolled Militia? I do not mean any particular company in its present condition, but by a detail from all the companies of such good men as will volunteer to serve. If this is impracticable, could not some one be authorized to raise a volunteer