adjutant-general; captain Phelan and Lieutenant S. E. Mackey, acting assistant adjutant-general. These officers have performed their duties well and faithfully. To my personal staff-Major George C. Tichenor, aide-de-camp; Captain Edward Jonas, aide-de-camp; Captain George E. Ford, aide-de-camp; Lieutenant E. A. Trader, acting aide-de-camp, and Lieutenant Joseph M. Tomlinson, acting aide-de-camp-I am under special obligations for their efficiency, fidelity, close attention to duty, and gentlemanly conduct. I am also under many obligations to Governor Fletcher of Missouri and Governor Crawford of Kansas for their hearty support and co-operation in repressing disorder in their States. Perfect harmony has existed between the military and State authorities and this fact has contributed in no small degree toward bringing quiet to the States and in keeping up proper discipline and efficiency in the militia that has been called into the service.

I have the honor to be, very respectfully, your obedient servant,

G. M. DODGE,

Major-General, Commanding.

Captain JOSEPH McC. BELL,

Assistant Adjutant-General, Military Division of the Missouri.

HDQRS. U. S. FORCES KANSAS AND THE TERRITORIES,
Fort Leavenworth, November 1, 1865.

COLONEL: I have the honor to submit the following report of operations in this command from the date of my assignment to the present date:

I arrived here and assumed command July 26, 1865, and in a few days thereafter started on the plains to make a personal inspection and examination of all troops, posts, routes, &c., within my command; to direct and supervision on the ground such changes and dispositions as were deemed necessary, and to give my personal attention to matters generally. I proceeded from here to Omaha, from there to Fort Kearny, thence up the Platte, taking all intermediate posts and stations en route to Fort Laramie; thence to Powder River; thence to Denver, via base of the mountains; thence to the Middle Park, and returned along the Smoky Hill Fork of the Kansas River and via Forts Ellsworth and Riley, reaching here on the 18th ultimo, having traveled with escort and train over 2,000 miles. I deem it proper to embody the following subject-matter in my report: First, the operations of troops during the present year; second, the overland routes and the matter and method of protecting them; third, the character of the country, the means for and difficulty of supplying the troops in it; fourth, the policy now being pursued toward the Indians, and wherein, in my opinion it should be different. I deem it proper to recur to the fact that when the Department of Kansas was merged into the Department of the Missouri in February last, I repaired to Fort Leavenworth and opened the Platte and Arkansas overland routes, which I found obstructed by the Indians. I found then, and so reported, that a general campaign against the Indians who were hostile would have to be made, and to that end troops [were] obtained and supplies sent to all posts on the plains. These facts, with my plan for operations, I submitted to the major-general commanding the Military Division of the Missouri, by whom I was instructed to make preparations accordingly. I was notified of the number of troops that would be sent me, and thereupon based my estimate for supplies and my instructions to district commanders. Sup-