On the 28th ultimo I paid a visit to the U. S. ship Saranac, Commodore Poor, anchored between the city and Yerba Buena Island. She is a fine ship with heavy guns and in position to protect the portions of the harbor and city beond the range of the guns on Alcatraz Island.

Very respectfully, your obedient servant,

G. WRIGHT,

Brigadier-General, U. S. Army, Commanding.

HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF THE PACIFIC,
San Francisco, Cal., May 2, 1864.

Major CHARLES McDERMIT,

Second Cavalry California Vols., Fort Churchill, Nev. Ter.:

SIR: The general commanding the department desires you to prepare Company D, Nevada Territory cavalry, for field service. The general directs that this company proceed to the Smoke Creek country, with instructions to visit during the coming summer all the valleys on the Chico route from the summit of the Sierra Nevada Mountains as far west as, in the opinion of the captain, may be necessary to give the required protection to settlers, and punish marauding Indians. It is not, however, the design of the general to confine operations to the route above indicated, should the officer in command of the expedition believe that a departure from it might conduce to the quiet and security of that particular section. You will direct supplies to be sent to this command at such points as will suit its movement, as it is the desire that it should not remain long in any one place, unless the interests it is sent to guard imperatively demand it. Thirty day's subsistence will be taken by the command. All horses in excess of the number of enlisted men of the company will be taken, provided the grazing is good in the country to be visited, or forage can be purchased at more reasonable rates than at Fort Churchill. Any men enlisted For Company D will be sent to it with the trains conveying its monthly supplies. You will report by telegraph the departure of the company.

Very respectfully, your obedient servant,

R. C. DRUM,

Assistant Adjutant-General.

HEADQUARTERS DISTRICT OF HUMBOLDT,
Fort Humboldt, Cal., May 2, 1864.

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

Asst. Adjt. General, Hdqrs. Dept. of the Pacific, San Francisco, Cal.:

COLONEL: Inclosed herewith please find a report of Lieutenant-Colonel Whipple, commanding Fort Gaston, Cal., in reference to Indian affairs in that section of the district. * I would respectfully call your attention to the recommendations and suggestions contained therein, particularly to the issue of rations to these Indians. I deem it economy to Government so to do, and to the interest of the service, and to insure our future success. I shall write Lieutenant-Colonel Whipple to make the issue, hoping the same will be approved at department headquarters. Please let me hear from you upon this subject at your earliest convenience.

Very respectfully, your obedient servant,

H. M. BLACK,

Colonel Sixth Infantry California Volunteers, Commanding.

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*See April 28, p. 830.

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