New Undated Website
IRONTON, MO., September 14, 1864.
Brigadier General THOMAS EWING,
Commanding District of Saint Louis:
SIR: It is reported, as you already know, that some 1,500 rebels are at Doniphan, Mo. I think this is an exaggeration. I think they have some force there, but not so many as reported. General, I cannot see the use of sending companies of men to Sainte Genevieve County and Perry County. I do not know when either of those counties were ever pestered by guerrillas or rebel soldiers; they have been entirely at peace since the commencement of the war. I do think the companies of Captain Weber, now in Perry County, and Captain Saint Gem, now under orders to go to Sainte Genevieve County, could do more by putting them where guerrillas and rebel soldiers may be found, with one company at Fredericktown, one at Dallas (Captain Cochran's already there), and the troops at Bloomfield will be ample protection for those interior or river counties. It does look to me that south and west of this place is where they are most needed. I will go down to Patterson in a day or two, and I will find out what is up down there. General, do all you can to have these men mounted, so that they can do something. The leaves will soon fall, and then we wish to kill all the guerrillas. I wish to see the U. S. forces take possession of all of Southeast Missouri. The rebels now hold some five or six counties. I wish to see the authority of the United States asserted and maintained in them. They have no law except mob law. The force at Patterson is not large enough; we have now only two companies, when there should be four companies. That post is more exposed than any outpost in Southeast Missouri, except it may be Bloomfield. General, I do not wish to be impertinent or to dictate, but to call your attention to these things. I know you have a great deal to do, and sometimes you may not think of all of these things, and if I should say more than I ought about these matters only attribute it to my great desire to have the power of this accursed rebellion destroyed in Missouri.
Respectfully, your obedient servant,
WM. T. LEEPER.