mouth of the river. The Joseph, Lane was once here, but is now at Port Angeles, on Puget Sound. The Shubrick should be sent back from San Francisco to the sound or to this river.

Very respectfully, your obedient servant,

BENJ. ALVORD,

Brigadier-General, U. S. Volunteers, Commanding District.

SPECIAL ORDERS,
HDQRS. DEPARTMENT OF THE PACIFIC, Numbers 129.
San Francisco, Cal., May 29, 1863.

The commanding officer of the U. S. troops on the island of San Juan is hereby authorized to regard the communication dated the 20th of March, 1860, of August Baynes, of the British Navy, to Captain L. C. Hunt, commanding U. S. troops on that island, as an acceptance of the projet of a temporary settlement, &c., setting forth the terms of a joint occupation, communicated by Lieutenant-General Scott to Governor Douglas in his letter of the 2nd of November, 1865. Therefore said commanding officer is empowered to banish from the island (in the words of General Scott)" any American resident found or known to be engaged in fomenting any quarrel or missunderstanding between the officers or men of one of the detachments, and the officers and men of the other, and further, to treat in like manner all other offenders against the peace and good order of the island. " It is enjoined that the exercise of this power shall be discretely employed and shall be reserved for occasions when the preservation of the peace and good order of the island imperatively demand it.

By order of Brigadier-General Wright:

RICHD. C. DRUM,
Assistant Adjutant-General.

HEADQUARTERS DISTRICT OF ARIZONA,

Hart's Mill, Tex., May 20, 1863.

Captain BEN. C. CUTLER,

Assistant Adjutant-General, Santa Fe:

CAPTAIN: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of a letter from the general commanding, dated the 17th instant, declining to accept my plan for making a stand at this point for the defense of the whole Territory. * This plan was based upon the feasibility of obtaining re-enforcements from Colorado, and my defeat was only to be risked if thereby any plan of subsequent defense was not be jeoparized. These points are merely alluded to because the letter of the general commanding would make me out the originator of a very weak programme. But as the intelligence I have already sent you shows that we had been previously misinformed, and that now any advance by the enemy is not to be looked for, it is useless to discuss the question further. After the prevalence of so many unreliable reports, here, and the truth so strongly conflicting with the report sent by Lieutenant Perry from Camp Easton that a body of the enemy with tents was located between the Pecos and Colorado Rivers, it seems that the latter may be a story gotten up by the Commanches to ingratiate themselves with and obtain presents from us. There is one point in the letter now acknowledge to which I wish to reply definitely. The Texans by getting possession of the Mesilla Valley with its present crop, with 4,000

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* See Vol. XXVI, Part I, p. 491.

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