HEADQUARTERS DISTRICT OF OREGON,
Fort Vancouver, Wash. Ter., September 12, 1861.

Colonel B. L. BEALL,

First Dragoons, Fort Vancouver:

COLONEL: I will give you a brief statement of the situation of affairs in this district. Two companies of the Ninth Infantry are posted at Fort Colville, under command of Brevet Major Lugenbeed. Twenty men from each of those companies are with Lieutenant Mullan. At Fort Walla Walla there are three companies of the First Dragoons, under command of Major Steen. One of those companies is temporarily detached in the Nez Perce country. At Fort Dalles is one company of First Dragoons, under Captain Whittlesey, having twenty men detached at the Warm Springs Reservation. At Fort Cascades is one company of the Ninth Infantry, under Captain Van Voast, having twenty men detached under Lieutenant Mullan, and twelve at Fort Dalles. At Fort Vancouver are two companies under Captain Black-twelve men detached at Camp Chehalis. At Fort Hoskins one company under Captain Dent-eleven men detached under Lieutenant Mulla. At Fort Steilacoom two companies under Captain Woodruff-not half full either of them. At San Juan Island one company under Captain English-half full. The present disposition of the troops is believed to be the best that can be made. The companies at the reservation are small and cannot be dispensed with. The companies are generally much reduced and have many men detached. I have called for a company of volunteer cavalry to be mustered in by Captain Whittlesey at Fort Dalles. Captain Whittlesey cannot be removed from Fort Dalles, as he has to muster in and take charge of the volunteer cavalry. There is much alarm beyond The Dalles, but I apprehend that no real danger exists. At all events, Captain Whittlesey with his own volunteer force will manage to keep everything quiet. The large bodies of Indians at Yamhill and Hoskins, some of them rather disaffected, render it prudent to keep a small company at each place. I invite your careful attention to my order and letter books and to the orders and instructions from department headquarters.

Very respectfully, your obedient servant,

G. WRIGHT,

Colonel Ninth Infantry, Commanding.

GENERAL ORDERS,
HEADQUARTERS DISTRICT OF OREGON, No. 1.
Fort Vancouver, Wash. Ter., September 13, 1861.

I. First Lieutenant A. C. Wildrick, Third Artillery, will immediately relive Major E. B. Babbitt, quartermaster, U. S. Army, in his duties as chief quartermaster and commissary at the Vancouver depot.

II. After being relieved, Major Babbitt will repair immediately to San Francisco to relieve Lieutenant-Colonel Swords.

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IV. The command of the District of Oregon is hereby transferred to Colonel B. L. Beall, First Dragoons.

G. WRIGHT,

Colonel Ninth Infantry, Commanding.