enabled to punish the rascals. I should be pleased to hear from the general commanding on this subject, and if my suggestion is approved, respectfully request that he will write to General Wright urging the granting of my request. About a month since two horses belonging to Captain Fritz, with Government saddles and carbines, were stolen from the corral attached to his quarters. In less than half an hour I had Lieutenant Guirado in the saddle with six men, with orders to pursue and recover the property, though it was necessary to go toGuaymas. Lieutenant Guirado returned on the 21st instant, having recovered the property in Hermosillo, but could not get the thieves in consequence of the obstacles thrown in his way by officers of the country and the smallness of his force. Had I been sufficiently strong in numbers I should have sent Captain Fritz with twenty-five or thirty men direct to the Governor as bearer of dispatches demanding the surrender of the culprits, with orders to take them himself in case the demand was refused. I am convinced that many of the border depredations for which the Apaches are held accountable are committed by the Mexicans, and I am determined to make an example of the first one I catch.

Trusting these actions may meet the approval of the general commanding, I am, sir, very respectfully, your obedient servant,

THEO. A. COULT,

Major Fifth Infantry California Volunteers, Commanding.

HEADQUARTERS DISTRICT OF WESTERN ARIZONA,
Tucson, December 31, 1862.

Colonel R. C. DRUM,

Assistant Adjutant-General, San Francisco, Cal.:

COLONEL: I have the honor to report that Company E, Fifth Infantry California Volunteers, Lieutenant John F. Qualey commanding, marched from Tucson for Fort Bowie, Apache Pass, on the 27th instant. My command is now very small, scarcely sufficient for garrison duty and to furnish necessary escort. I have concentrated my force as much as I was able, but do not feel at all secure. In addition to the reports of armed men assembling in Sonora, to which I called the attention of the commanding geenral in my communiction of the 10th instant, the Apaches are committing great depredations in all parts of the country. I have just been informed that the Indians ran off from San Xavier, only nine miles distant, at 3 o'clock this morning, forty head of horses. The news did not reach me until 1 p. m., and having but twenty-three cavalry in garrison, and the Indians ten hours' start, I am satisfied that it would take at least a week to catch them. Hence I could do nothing but bite my lips and let them go. I regret to be importunate, but it is extremely vexatious and annoying to be compelled to listen to the recitals of these outrages and feel that my hands are tied and I can affod them no relief. It would be folly to send less than two companies on a campaign against them, and the only avaialble force I have is twenty-three cavalrymen. The infantry I must retain in town to afford protection to the Government supplies. I can raise a partisan company of sixty to eighty men here, who have had much experience in fighting the Indians, and who would gladly go on a campaign if supported by regular troops. Should such a suggestion meet the approval of the commanding general, the expense to the Government would be slight. They would furnish their own horses and would require only