...500 Federals from Bloomfield, Mo., under command of John McNeil, marched, on March 9th, against Chalk Bluff, compelling the Confederate force under Col. M. Jeff Thompson to retire to their dugouts on Varney 's river, in which they retreated down the St. Francis, leaving McNeil to parole the citizens and ravage that swampy region as usual. In April, James R. Vanderpool, of the Federal Missouri militia,...