CAMP DRUM, March 22, 1862.

Brigadier General GEORGE WRIGHT,

San Francisco, Cal.:

MY DEAR GENERAL: You will have seen by copies of my correspondence sent on the Wright that 100 Confederate cavalry, commanded by a Captain Hunter, C. S. Army, entered Tucson, Ariz. Ter., on the 28th day of February. The next day a Colonel Reiley and two subalterns and twenty rank and file, C. S. Army, as escort, arrived there. Two days afterward this latter party went to Colt's mine, where Colonel Lally has charge, and thence proceeded to Hermosillo, Sonora, where Colonel Reily expected to meet Governor Pesqueira. Before this Reily left Tucson the Confederate flag was raised in that town with some ceremony, Reily making a speech on the occsion on the public plaza. After Reily had departed toward Hermosillo, Hunter was to proceed to Pima Villages to destroy some 300,000 pounds of wheat there, the property of a Mr. White. This Mr. White was grinding some of this wheat into flour for the use of our troops. Captain Hunter is said to have threatened to hang White. He was to have arrived at the Pima Villages on the 7th instant. Captain McCleave, First Cavalry California Volunteers, with some eight men, had left Fort Yuma to scout in that direction, and was doubtless in the neighborhood of or at the Pima Villages about the time that Hunter said he would be there. So it is possible that McCleave has been captured, though in my opinion not probable. As Sibley moved on Fort Craing I imagine he sent Hunter to Tucson to give notice of any advance from California of troops liable to jeopardize his return to El Paso. I fear he overcame the forces sent against him by Canby. If so, perhaps he is already master of New Mexico. If not, he may have fallen back on Mesilla, which is below the Jornado del Muerto. From thence he may make a demonstration westward, having in view the secession of Sonora from Mexico and its accession to the Confedese why this mission of this full Colonel Reily. Sibley had four regiments of infantry, so my spies were informed by Hunter, a large body of cavalry, and a battery of howitzers. He now has Mr. McRae's battery, captured from Canby, so that if he remains below the Jornado he is quite formidable. I do not think if he is beaten that his forces can recover from the shock in time to help Captain Hunter, so that the cavalry which goes from Yuma to Tucson by a trail, or the 100 infantry which go to the Pima Villages, may beat up the quarters of Hunter and make them a little warm for him. By forced marches the cavalry will be at Tucson by the 1st of April. If this force is successful, it will try to catch Reily and his escort. I did not think it advisable to let Captain [Hunter
and Colonel Reily come so near to us without giving them an intimation that we are aware of what they are doing, to say the least. If Sibley has fallen back on Mesila, and the handful of men which I have pushed forward to Tucson captures that town, he may move that way to recover it. Out cavalry, if succesful, will fall back on the Pima Villages, and there, in conjunction with the 100 infantry, will intrench themselves. In case they are menaced they can be re-enforced from Yuma or fall back on that fort, according to the strength sent out against them. I cannot afford to have so much cavalry at Yuma unless it is driven there, as it would eat up all the barley at that place. I hope all this will meet with your approval. Sibley's presence on the Rio Grande makes the recapture of Fillmore, Bliss, and Thorn not so easy a task as when those places were held by Baylor and his 900 men. Therefore, as it is your purpose to have the force under my command make a demonstration in that direction, I submit if it would not be well