[Inclosure.]

HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF NEW MEXICO, Sante Fe, N. Mex., October 11, 1862.

Col. JOSEPH R. WEST,
Commanding the District of Arizona, Mesilla:

COLONEL: I have ordered Colonel Carson, with five companies of his regiment, to reoccupy Fort Stanton. These troops are already en route to that point. They will immediately commence hostile operations against the Mescalero and Navajo Indians who may be in that vicinity and southward of it.

You will order the following troops in the Mescalero country to co-operate with Colonel Carson, yet to be independent of him. Captain McCleave you will place in command of one expedition, to be composed of his own and one company of your regiment. He will start with this force, increased by 20 good Mexican spies and guides, which you are authorized to employ at reasonable rates, on the 15th of next month and to be absent until the 31st day of December, 1862. He will proceed by the way of Dog Canon and operate to the eastward and southward of that noted haunt of the Mescaleros. You will order Captain Roberts, of your regiments, to command another expedition against these Indians. His force will be composed of all the effective men of his own company; all the effective men of Captain Pishon's company now in the valley of the Rio Grande north of Fort Quitman, and 20 first-rate Pueblo Indians or Mexicans, whom you are authorized to employ at Isleta, Socorro, and San Elizario. This last 20 I would suggest you employ Don Gregorio Garcia, of San Elizario, to command. He has often been on expeditions against the Mescaleros and had good luck; he knows the country well. Captain Roberts will start from Franklin, Tex., on the 15th of November next and be absent until December 31, 1862. He will proceed by the Waco Tanks, and thence northeastwardly to such points as will be most likely to be occupied by Apaches. Assistant Surgeon Kittredge will accompany Captain McCleave; Assistant Surgeon McKee will accompany Captain Roberts. There is to be no council held with the Indians nor any talks. The men are to be slain whenever and wherever they can be found. The women and children may be taken as prisoners, but of course they are not to be killed. From Dog Canon and from the Waco Tanks subsistence stores and ammunition, &c., will doubtless have to be transported on pack mules. I have ordered 75 pack-saddles to be sent down from Fort Union for the use of the two expeditions. I would suggest a depot being formed by each expedition well out into the Mescalero country, farther out than Dog Canon or Waco Tanks if practicable-a depot that may be reached by wagons, and thence operate with pack mules, leaving a few men in depot to guard the supplies not immediately required. I send a copy of this letter to Colonel Carson that he may know when you are to act and where your forces are to operate, and he will shape his plans accordingly. Much is expected of the California troops. I trust that these three demonstrations will give those Indians a wholesome lesson. They have robbed and murdered the people with impunity too long already.

If the movements are kept from being made public, so the Indians, through the Mexicans, may not know of your plans until the troops take the field, it will be better so. If the Indians want to negotiate, Carson will send the chief under a flag to Santa Fe for that purpose.

While Captain Roberts' company is in the field you will station Captain Willis with a portion of his company at Franklin and leave another