OSCEOLA, MO., June 13, 1864.

Brigadier-General VAUGHAN,

Commanding Ninth Enrolled Missouri Militia:

DEAR SIR: In accordance with your request for information in regard to the situation of this county, I have the honor to submit the following: Rock River lie was of this place; the nearest crossing is 6 miles from here west of it; is very sparsely settled. What few Union men there are in that part of the country are compelled to work together, leave the country, or be food for powder in the hands of bushwhackers, neither of which is pleasing to the minds of those who are and have ever been ready to do their part toward putting an end to this cursed rebellion and maintaining the supremacy of our laws. On the banks of said river is a mill, known as Ritchey's Mill, lying about 12 miles from this place, and upon which the people of this county, to a very great extend, depend for grinding the grain to make their bread. This mill the bushwhackers have threatened to burn, and is only protected now by some citizens who cannot afford to feed themselves, soldier, and be robbed at the same time. They are ready and willing to fight for the country.

They prefer to serve in a company which will be stationed in the county where their families and where their homes have been for years, if they can; if not, a large number of the best citizens of this county will move what little they may still possess, having been robbed of the most of their property, to more secure place, and by so doing will lose the benefit of the labor which they have bestowed upon their farms and crops for the present year. By such a course Lock River would then be the frontier line. The county wold thus lose the benefit of the mill still remaining to the citizens. What property still remains then would shortly go to destruction. You ask me why I have any reason to suppose such a state of facts to exist. My answer is, that one week ago 2 men, who belonged to Morton's company (E) and served with him in the old Sixtieth Regiment, were taken out and brutally murdered within a short distance of their homes. Others they tried to run upon and kill made narrow escapes. A number of them have and are making arrangements, unless something is done in this matter toward placing men in service with sufficient force who are acquainted with the country and it inhabitants and whose interests are in this portion of the country, to remove their families therefrom, go into the Provisional and U. S. service in the adjoining district.

Again, at the circuit court held in April last, our grand jury found about twenty-three bills of indictment against men in this county for crimes of various degrees, some of whom I am satisfied are among the most dangerous men in the country, nd who, if not watched and guarded, I am afraid will cause men to be burned out of their homes and killed for appearing as witnesses against them before that tribunal which regulars all civil docket about one hundred cases for suit at next term of court, many of them attachments where the parties have gone South. These we are fully satisfied would be destroyed if the enemy could get possession, which, if my former premises are correct, they will have every chance they can desire to accomplish their work. There is also a school fund of about $60,000 or $70,000 due this county, most of which is owing and due from rebels who have gone South.