settlements in Minnesota, to steal horses, Little Crow stating to his son that the Indians were took weak to fight against the whites, and that it was his intention to secure horses, and then to return and take his family to a distant part of the country, where they would not be in danger from the whites.

He has repeated the statement to me without any material variation, and, as his account corroborates the newspaper reports of the mode in which 2 Indians, who were engaged in picking berries, were approached by a Mr. Lampson and his son, and one of them killed, and the body accurately described, there is no longer any doubt that the originator of the horrible massacres of 1862 has met his death.

I have brought Wo-wi-na-pa, Little Crow's son, with 3 other Sioux Indians, taken prisoners by my scouts, to Fort Abercrombie, where they are at present confined. I have ordered a military commission to convene to-day for their trial, the proceedings of which will be sent you when completed. The scouts took prisoners 7 women and 3 or children, who were in the camp with the 3 men, but I released them on my departure from James River, where they were found. Two for the women were fugitives from the reservation on the Missouri below, being recognized by the half-breed scouts as having passed the winter at Fort Snelling. They stated that they had left the reservation in company with 3 men, who had gone to the main camp on the Missouri.

The result of the expedition under Captain Burt has proved conclusively that there are very few, if any, Sioux Indians between Devil's Lake and the Missouri River, and that all the bands whose haunts are in the immense prairie region between the latter stream and the British possessions, were concentrated in the great camp driven by my forces across the Missouri.

I have organized an expedition, composed of three companies of cavalry, to proceed to Otter Tail Lake, and thence to Fort Ripley, with written instructions to the commanding officer, Major Parker. I shall probably dispatch the Tenth Regiment Minnesota Volunteers to scour the country from Sauk Center to Fort Ridgely, more with a view to reassure the settlers along the Big Woods than because I have a belief that any but a few lurking savages are to be found now on the immediate frontier. I shall march from this post on the 25th with the remainder of my column, and take the route by Alexandria and Sauk Center, taking such measure for the security of the border as I may deem necessary.

The cavalry expedition under Major Parker will pass through the region frequented by the Pillager and other strong bands of Chippewa Indians, and will have a decided moral effect.

I will report my movements as opportunities present themselves.

I am, very respectfully, your obedient servant,

H. H. SIBLEY,

Brigadier-General, Commanding.

J. F. MELINE,

Acting Assistant Adjutant-General Milwaukee.

HDQRS. DIST. OF MINNESOTA, DEPT. OF THE NORTHWEST,
In the Field, Camp Rubles, Sauk Center, September 2, 1863.

MAJOR: I have the honor to report my arrival with the column at this post. A requisition has been made upon me by Senator Ramsey, commissioner on the part of the Government to negotiate a treaty