HEADUQARTERS DEPARTMENT OF KANSAS, Fort Leavenworth, Kans., June 16, 1864.

General FISK:

Just informed the bushwhackers were again in Farley last night. The militia there better be disposed of an better men put in their places. Shall I send Fitzgerald with important papers which he took from rebel officers?

S. B. CURTIS,

Major-General.

FORT LEAVENWORTH, June 16, 1864.

Brigadier General C. B. FISK,

Saint Joseph, Mo.:

Major Hunt returned. Made quite a detour through Platte. He reports the Ferley affair resulted in the bushwhackers stealing 6 horses. Militia stationed there should be called to account. They sympathized or participated. Bushwhackers are in small gangs. One hundred true, loyal men could destroy them.

S. R. CURTIS,

Major-General.

HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF KANSAS, Fort Leavenworth, June 16, 1864.

Brigadier General C. B. FISK,
Saint Joseph, Mo.:

DEAR GENERAL: I get more news of rebels near the line between Platte and Clay Counties. A wealthy Missourian came over to-day, and seemed very confident that some 1,500 were distributed near the lines of Platte and Clay, not far east of Ridgeley. Major Hunt thinks there are not over 300. I do not feel at liberty to name the Missourian, but he is so situated as to have better means of knowing than any man near here. Indeed, I will tell you; it is Mr. Washburn, the owner, I believe, of the ferry. He has been a little shaky and gets into rebel news. You must not expose his name. This afternoon General Davis got what he considered reliable news of a rebel camp only a few miles below Leavenworth. I allowed him to send over a force under Major Hunt, who will try to surround the bushwhackers before day to-morrow.

We must take all these reports with many grains of allowance, but there must be some fire where their is so much smoke. You will also see by the papers taken by Captain Fitzgerald the plain earmarks of rebels. The papers how a knowledge of our troops, as located, all the way down from Missouri River, below the Arkansas; giving their locations and probable numbers very correctly. The papers also show the complicity of men and women, who should be immediately arrested. A bold dash and extensive arrests in the regions that have begun to collect will save you a vast amount of trouble. I hope you will be able to shift troops. I think there is a kind of tacit agreement among some of the bushwhackers and Paw Paws to let each other alone; they evidently regard the differences

27 R R-VOL XXXIV, PT IV