locality, the valley on the head of Crooked River, or the South Fork, is well calculated for the establishment of a depot. The position is, when considered in reference to the country to be examined, favorable if the plan I propose is adopted. It would place the depot, as I am informed, thirty or forty miles west and perhaps a little south of Canyon, and would be in a locality where the troops left at the depot could be of good service in the examination of favorite summer resorts for Indians, and wuld be between the Warm Springs Reservation and the hostile Indians. I wuld recommend that the services of this guide be obtained and that he might be authorized to select four or five Indians from the War Springs to accompany him. These can be obtained without pay, and I wuld preer not to have a greater number. With a competent interpreter (the party referred to as guide is a good one) they could be used to advantage. I do not approve of the idea of having a company of Indians. Their manner of warfare is repugnant to our civiliazation, and they would be a constant source of anxiety and perhaps truble to the commander of the expedition.

Very respectfully, your obedient servant,

R. F. MAURY,

Colonel First Oregon Cavalry, Commanding.

SAN FRANCISCO, CAL., February 18, 1864.

Adjutant-General THOMAS:

I desire the Secretary's authority to muster in two companies before completion of organization, for immediate service in the field.

G. WRIGHT,

Brigadier-General, Commanding.

WAR DEPARTMENT, ADJUTANT-GENERAL'S OFFICE,

February 18, 1864.

Brigadier-General WRIGHT,

San Francisco, Cal.:

This is authority for you to have two companies mustered in as requested.

THOMAS M. VINCENT,

Assistant Adjutant-General.

HEADQUARTERS HUMBOLDT MILITARY DISTRICT,
Fort Gaston, Cal., February 18, 1864.

Lieutenant Colonel R. C. DRUM, U. S. Army,

Asst. Adjt. General, Department of the Pacific, San Francisco:

COLONEL: I have the honor to report that the most active exertions are being constantly made by the troops in this portion of the Military District of Humboldt to capture or kill the hostile Indians, but am obliged to confess that but little success is achieved. There are rom ten to fifteen friendly Indians active a spies, and enlisted men familiar with this section are continuously and anxiously laboring to find the enemy, but as yet without avail. The Indians I have employed are entirely in earnest, as they are at deadly enmity with the hostile bands in the mountains, and now that they are so fully committed they are untiring in their endeavors. The troops and friendly Indians or eeager in pursuit of the enemy, each failure making them moreso. Some