...., to cooperate with M. Jeff Thompson, late in October. The defeat of Thompson exposed the posts at Pitman's Ferry and Pocahontas to an expedition soon afterward attempted by Col. R. J. Oglesby, of Illinois , from Bird's Point. In apprehension of this, November 5th, Colonel Borland wrote to General Polk that he had but 700 men and half a dozen discarded cannon. Needing artillerists, he had ordered ba...