mutual agreement between these two officers, and I beg to assure you that whatever they may conjointly agree upon in this matter I shall be prepared to confirm. I must, sir, in conclusion, take this opportunity to express what pleas ure I have derived from the very cordial and friendly feeling which had existed between the troops of the two Governments during the time of the joint occupation, and I have on all occasions received from Captain Bazalgette the assurance of having always experienced the utmost courtesy and friendliness on the part of Captain Pickett. I have the honor to be, sir, your obedient servant, JOHN D. S. SPENCER, HEADQUARTERS, Fort Steilacoom, Wash. Ter., January 25, 1861. Capt. JAMES A. HARDIE, 3d Arty., Actg. Asst. Adjt. Gen., Fort Vancouver, Wash. Ter.: CAPTAIN: The copies of communications from Acting Governor McGill and others relating to Indian affairs on the Sound have been received. I have the honor to report as follows: Early in December last a man by the name of Ferguson, living near the mouth of the Skokomish, reported to me that a white man had been killed by an Indian. He informed me that the Indian agent, Mr. Simmons, was then at the reservation, near the mouth of that river. I told him that it was the duty of the agent to make an official report to me of an occurrence that would require military aid, but that I would attend to it. The Massachusetts being about to proceed to San Juan Island with Lieutenant Casey, of the engineers, and a surveying party, I directed that she should go by the way of the Skokomish River. I directed Lieutenant Casey to confer with the agent and investigate the matter so far as he was able. It appears that a white man by the name of Carter living near the mouth of the Skokomish was killed by an Indian by the name of Paemps, with the assistance of one of his sons, who was known by the name of Charley. The agent informed Lieutenant Casey that he did not think that any of the other Indians had anything to do with it, and that 100 or more of them were hunting up the murderers, and furthermore that he thought it not best for the troops to interfere, as it would tend to frighten the Indians. Paemps and his son have frequently been at this post, and I know them; he is half Klickitat and half Skokomish, the latter one of the tribes on the Sound. He has been a priest and preacher among the Indians for some time, but of late has taken to drink and lost much of his influence among them. It is the general opinion that his desire not to be considered a kultus fellow has induced him to commit this murder. I endeavor to impress upon the Indians with whom I come in contact the necessity of taking the murderers, and I am confident they will do so if possible. I inclose the copy of a communication which I received from Mr. Simmons, late agent. I received not long ago a petition signed by twenty-four citizens of White River, setting forth that they feared an outbreak of the Indians. I dispatched Lieutenant Alexander, of the engineers, with two men to visit the settlements on the Puyallup and White River, and to inquire into the foundation of the report. Lieutenant Alexander reported that so far as he could learn there was no good cause for the alarm, and that the settlers appeared to be satisfied; also that most of their fears were not well founded. A report taken by the mail rider from Steilacoom to Seattle was the principal cause of the alarm. I have information from the Indian agents at Nisqually, Bellingham Bay, and Puyallup, and the agent for Muckleshoot, which is a short distance above the White River settlement, called upon me in person. Their united testimony is that there is no cause to fear an outbreak among the Indians. I concur in that opinion. These Indian rumors on the Sound have not escaped my attention, and had I considered them of sufficient importance to trouble the headquarters of the department it would have been reported before. Very respectfully, your obedient servant, SILAS CASEY, Lieutenant-Colonel Ninth Infantry, Commanding Post. P. S.-The interest of the service, in my opinion, requires that the two companies at this post should be filled up. I have no troops to spare for any detached service, should they be required, as for several months past there have been hardly sufficient men here to perform properly the duties of the post. HEADQUARTERS DISTRICT OF OREGON, Maj. W. W. MACKALL, S. C. Fort Vancouver, Wash. Ter., January 26, 1861. Asst. Adjt. Gen., Hdqrs. Dept. of the Pacific, San Francisco : SIR: Your letter of the 15th instant, inclosing Orders, No. 1, from the headquarters Department of the Pacific, reached me on the 23d instant. The order has been distributed within the district. For a view of the condition of the troops, the state of the Indian relations, and of the movements in contemplation in the late Department of Oregon, I request that reference may be had to my letters and reports to Army headquarters, copied in the department letter book from page 132 forward. The letter and order books are sent by express by the steamer which conveys this. The condition of the pay, quartermaster, and subsistence departments is exhibited by the accompanying reports of Majors Alvord and Babbitt. The papers likewise for the quartermaster and subsistence departments for the last quarter of 1860, required by paragraph 950, Regulations 1857, are forwarded to the chiefs of those bureaus at Washington through the headquarters of the department, in order to afford the department commander an opportunity to obtain from them such information as they may afford. A copy of the department return for November and an unfinished return for December, on which are consolidated all the posts heard from for December, are inclosed. The department return due from the Department of Oregon for December it is proposed to complete here when Fort Colville and Camp Pickett shall have been heard from. Paymaster Winston's abstracts for November and December, 1860, are likewise transmitted. Two packages of papers for action of department commander are sent herewith, with explanatory memoranda indorsed. A letter from Lieutenant Casey and map* (the latter put in the letter book for safe carriage) accompany this. Captain Pickett was promised a copy of the map. I ought to state that a letter to Captain Spencer, Royal Navy, of December 20 (see letter book, page 222), remains unanswered. It is believed *On file in office of the Chief of Engineers. that the arrangement will be satisfactory. I have to mention before closing that I had applied to the Secretary of War for a leave of absence of twelve months before the receipt of Orders, No. 1, from the headquarters Department of the Pacific. I am, sir, very respectfully, your obedient servant, G. WRIGHT, Colonel Ninth Infantry, Commanding. VICINITY OF FORT TEJON, CAL., February, 1861. General A. S. JOHNSTON, U. S. Army: We, the subscribers, having heard the removal of Fort Tejon is in contemplation, desire to enter our earnest protest against this intention, representing for your consideration the following facts: The position of Fort Tejon is such as entirely to command three populous and rapidly increasing districts, which by its abandonment would suffer the most disastrous consequences from the incursions and inroads of the Indians from which it now protects us. These people are as yet without the means of self-defense, and relying upon the permanence of the fort and the protection of the Government, have passed thus far into the interior, settling and developing the resources of a new country, with the implied assurance, from the location of Fort Tejon, of protection for their lives and property. If this protection is to be withdrawn, those who have under its promises made their homes in the wilderness will be left to the mercy of ruthless savages, and a beautiful district about to be reclaimed by civilization again abandoned to its original condition. These resources are agricultural and grazing, and it would be useless to remind you of the vast mining interest stretching from Mono Lake to the Colorado, over an immense extent of country rich in every mineral, and now being examined by thousands of our citizens, which the aban donment of Fort Tejon would leave entirely without protection, and in consequence of which all the anticipated wealth of that region be utterly lost to the country. Under these circumstances we feel justified in remonstrating in the strongest manner against the removal of Fort Tejon. The value of our property and our personal security all render imperative the protection it affords. We have the honor to be, very respectfully, your obedient servants, SAMUEL A. BISHOP, E. F. BEALE, F. E. KERLIN, [AND 85 OTHERS]. OFFICE SECRETARY OF TERRITORY, Olympia, February 3, 1861. COMMANDER OF THE DEPARTMENT OF THE PACIFIC, San Francisco, Cal.: SIR: I have the honor to transmit herewith a certified copy of a memorial of the legislative assembly of this Territory passed at its session just closed, and respectfully to call your attention to the same. I have the honor to be, your obedient servant, HENRY M. MCGILL, Secretary of Washington Territory. [Inclosure.] To the COMMANDER OF THE DEPARTMENT OF THE PACIFIC: We your memoralists, the legislative assembly of the Territory of Washington, would respectfully represent that since Fort Bellingham has been abandoned by the military the numerous tribes of Indians residing in the vicinity have shown unmistakable evidence of hostility to the whites, growing out of the non-fulfillment of treaty stipulations on the part of our Government. The settlement on Bellingham Bay is also liable to be surprised at any time by the Northern, or British, Indians, who periodically visit the sound for plunder, and situated near the forty-ninth parallel, it is of the utmost importance that Fort Bellingham should be reoccupied by at least one company of U. S. troops for the protection of said settlement of Bellingham Bay. Passed the House January 17, 1861. LYMAN SHAFFER, Speaker House of Representatives. Passed the council January 18, 1861. PAUL K. HUBBS, President of the Council. SECRETARY'S OFFICE, Olympia, Wash. Ter., February 1, 1861. I hereby certify the foregoing to be a true and perfect copy of the original memorial on file in this office. HENRY M. MCGILL, Secretary of Territory. HEADQUARTERS, ORDERS, Fort Walla Walla, Wash. Ter., February 4, 1861. Bvt. Maj. William N. Grier, First Dragoons, with forty men of his company, will proceed to-morrow morning to the Umatilla to confer with the agent, Mr. Abbott, concerning certain recent depredations by a party of Indians on the Columbia, and, if necessary, to proceed to the Indian camp, secure and punish the offenders, and remove the remainder to the reservation. He will take ten days' forage and rations. The assistant quartermaster will furnish the necessary transportation. By order of Major Steen: JAMES WHEELER, JR., Second Lieutenant, First Dragoons, Post Adjutant. HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF THE PACIFIC, First Lieut. J. MCALLISTER, Commanding Benicia Arsenal, Cal.: SIR: The commanding general wishes a list of the arms in the arsenal, the amount of powder and ammunition. He directs you to send 100 rounds of ball cartridges and twenty rounds of blank cartridges to Alcatraz Island for the carbines lately issued to the dragoon recruits. But if you have already furnished any ammunition for those arms you will reduce the present amount by the then supply. Respectfully, your obedient servant, W. W. MACKALL, Assistant Adjutant-General. ADJUTANT-GENERAL'S OFFICE, Washington, D. C., February 7, 1861. Bvt. Brig. Gen. ALBERT S. JOHNSTON, U. S. Army, Commanding Department of the Pacific, San Francisco, Cal.: GENERAL: Herewith I have the honor to transmit a copy of a project for the continuation of the work on the Fort Benton and Walla Walla military road, submitted to the Secretary of War by Capt. Andrew A. Humphreys, Corps of Topographical Engineers. The Secretary approves of the same, and directs that you give the necessary instructions for carrying out its provisions. A detail of an assistant surgeon to accompany the expedition will be made from your command, whom you will instruct to attend the citizens employed by Lieutenant Mullan. I am, general, very respectfully, your obedient servant, S. COOPER, Adjutant-General. [Inclosure.] WAR DEPARTMENT, OFFICE OF EXPLORATION AND SURVEYS, Hon. J. HOLT, SIR: In the latter part of December I submitted to the Department, with a recommendation, the project of Lieutenant Mullan, U. S. Army, in charge of the military road from Fort Benton to Fort Walla Walla, for continuing the operations during the ensuing season through the next winter and the following spring and summer (in all about fifteen months from 1st April next), together with an estimate of the expense of executing the work. The amount available for this operation, including the probable amount of sales of animals and other property at the conclusion of the field-work, was estimated by Lieutenant Mullan to be on 1st April next $85,000. This sum was probably in excess about $2,500. Having understood that the above-mentioned paper has been mislaid, and that it is desired I should submit a substitute for it, I beg leave to say that it is not in my power to state the exact number of assistants and employés and extent of outfit and the monthly cost of maintaining the party proposed by Lieutenant Mullan, nor should I wish to make out a project in detail to govern that officer, as it might cramp him and impair the efficiency of his party. After a careful examination of his project I propose that the number of his assistants should be one less than he asked for, and that instead of employing a physician an assistant surgeon should be detailed to accompany his escort (100 strong), and be directed by the Surgeon-General to attend the civil employés of the party. Much of the work to be done upon the road consists in building bridges, and Lieutenant Mullan proposed that the party should winter on the route, and be employed during that season upon those constructions, and resuming the other labors upon it in the spring, reach Fort Benton in time to descend the Missouri in the latter part of the summer. Whether more time would be lost by this plan of operations, or by returning to Walla Walla toward the end of the fall and discharging the party and reorganizing it again and taking the field in the following spring, it is difficult to decide. I propose, therefore, that discretionary authority should be given to Lieutenant Mullan to send back to Walla Walla and discharge a portion or the |