The same proposition was made to me last autumn, and rejected for the reasons furnished me by fifteen years' experience among Indians. In these refusals I was fully sustained by Commissioner W. P. Dole and Superintendent Thompson, who were both present in Saint Paul, and who both expressed the strongest opinions on the subject of exterminating instead of employing these very Chippewa Indians.

I trust I will be permitted to say also that, in my judgment, the battalion which Mr. Hatch is authorized to raise will be simply a source of great and unnecessary expense to the Government. A knowledge of the position of affairs in Minnesota and other peculiar circumstances connected with the subject would, I think, satisfy the War Department of this fact. I do not doubt the campaign now the progress will leave Indian matters in Minnesota in such shape that few troops will hereafter be necessary in that State. One regiment of Mounted Rangers, authorized by the Secretary of War last autumn, and which is now in service, ought and I doubt not will be sufficient, with small garrisons at the principal posts, to protect the frontier for the future.

These remarks are respectfully submitted to the Secretary of War for such consideration as the merit, it being my purpose only to inform him that, according to my judgment, the authority given Mr. Hatch had best be revoked, or at least modified so as to authorize him to enlist only whites, and that the organization of his battalion be so changed that it shall consist of only one arm of the service, so that it can readily be attached hereafter to regiments in process of forming or the companies of which have been consolidated.

I am, colonel, respectfully, your obedient servant,

JNO. POPE,

Major-General, Commanding.

HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF THE NORTHWEST,
Milwaukee, July 13, 1863.

Colonel J. C. KELTON,

Assistant Adjutant-General, Washington, D. C.:

COLONEL: I have the honor to transmit the inclosed papers,* in relation to Indians in the western part of this State, for the information of the War Department.

I telegraphed the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, requesting that an Indian agent to sent here to take charge of these Indians, and accompany them to their reservation on the Upper Missouri. A copy of the dispatch, with the answer to it, is inclosed.* The facts are briefly as follows:

A very large number of Indians, estimated at about 1,000 have suddenly appeared in Juneau County. Among them, and in considerable numbers, are found Men Indians, that is, Indians not belonging to "Dandy's" band of Winnebagoes, which has long been in that neighborhood. The Men Indians do no speak the same dialect with "Dandy's" band; the are very insolent, demanding everything they want from the whites, and taking when the articles are not given. They are destroying the fields, and creating much uneasiness and apprehension. They have quantities of fine shawls, counterpanes, and other articles, evidently the property of white people, which are supposed to be part of the plunder of the settlements of Minnesota last autumn. They are believed to be Indians from that State who have escaped during the

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*Not found.

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