OPERATIONS ON THE PACIFIC COAST. *

JANUARY 1, 1861-JUNE 30, 1865.

PART I.

SUMMARY OF THE PRINCIPAL EVENTS. +

Jan. 15, 1861. -The Departments of California and Oregon merged into the Department of the Pacific.

Colonel Albert Sidney Johnston, Second U. S. Cavalry, brevet brigadier-general, U. S. Army, assumes command of the Department of the Pacific.

16- May 18, 1861. -Operations in the vicinity of Fort Humboldt, Cal.

February 5-17, 1861. -Scouts from Fort Walla, Wash. Ter., and Fort Dalles, Oreg., to the Umatilla River and to Willow and Butter Creeks, Oreg., with skirmishes (8th and 10th) on the Columbia River.

Mar. 18, 1861. -Affair on the Columbia River, near the Kootenay River, Wash. Ter.

23, 1861. -Brigadier General Edwin V. Summner, U. S. Army, assigned to command the Department of the Pacific.

---------------

*The operations reported in this volume were carried on in that portion of the territory of the United States lying west of the Rocky Mountains, including so much of the Territory of Utah as lay west of the one hundred and seventeenth meridian of west longitude and so much of the Territory of New Mexico as lay west of the one hundred and tenth meridian of west longitude. This areas composed the Departments of California and Oregon. The Department of California was created by General Orders, Numbers 10, War Department, Adjutant-General's Office, of September 13, 1858, and included the territory west of the Rocky Mountains south of the Oregon, except so much of Utha as lay east of the one hundred and seventeenth meridian of west longitude, and of New Mexico as lay east of the one hundred and tenth meridian of west longitude. It also included the Rogue River and Umpqua Districts in Southwestern Oregon. It was commanded on January 1, 1861, by Lieutenant Colonel benjamin L. Beall, First U. S. Dragoons, who had assumed command, by seniority of rank, on the death of Bvt. Brigadier General Newman S. Clarke, colonel Sixth U. S. Infantry, which occurred on October 17, 1860. It was merged into the Department of the Pacific on January 15, 1861. The Department of Oregon was created by General Orders, Numbers 10, War Department, Adjutant-General's Office, September 13, 1858, and was composed of the Territories of Washington and Oregon, except the Rogue River and Umpqua Districts. It was commanded on December 31, 1860, by Colonel George Wright, Ninth U. S. Infantry, under assignment dated June 8, 1860. It was merged into the Department of the Pacific on January 15, 1861.

+Of some of the minor conflicts noted in this summary no circumstantial reports are on file.

---------------

R R-VOL L, PT I