opportunities for stealing horses and murdering white people, and our Government and settlements will have to continually for years regard all such Indian tribes as dangerous to emigrant's settlements and overland mail routes. I hope I may be mistaken, but I traversed the plains last summer between Texas and the Platte, generally with from 400 to 600 cavalry and 4 mountain howitzers, and after over 3,000 miles of marching through their country and beyond our settlements, I think myself also pretty well posted. One thing is very remarkable, and that is, the intimate knowledge of what is called the confederated tribes with the whole country from the Cimarron to the British provinces and the constant interchange of intelligence among all the various tribes of the plains, while there seems to be no intercourse of friendship between those of the plains and the tribes of the Rocky Mountains. As soon as the river opens I design to visit Saint Paul, when I hope to see and confer with the liberal offers to all these matters. If anything can be done with the liberal offers of peace indicated by General Pope, I hope they will fully and faithfully be pressed upon the hostile tribes. The great trouble I find is that when their wants induce them to remain quiet near us they always profess and evidently feel friendly, but when in summer their young men get out in hunting parties far from their homes they disregard all their promises and pursue robbing and scalping as a sort of incident or recreation. I have thus more fully than I at first proposed given my views of the nature and extent of our Indian difficulties on the plains without saying much as to my hopes and purposes to countervail them.

I have the honor to be, general, your obedient servant,

S. R. CURTIS,

Major-General.

Abstract from return of the Military Division of West Mississippi, Major General Edward R. S. Canby, U. S. Army, commanding, for the month of February, 1865.

Present for duty.

Command. Officers. Men. Aggregate Aggregat

present. e pres

ent and

absent.

General headquar 24 . . . 24 24

ters.

Department of the

Gulf (Hurlbut):

Staff. 56 1 57 67

Infantry. 532 14. 270 19. 601 21. 667

Cavalry. 194 4. 842 6. 197 8. 126

Artillery. 125 4. 668 5. 664 6. 199

Total. 907 23. 781 30. 519 36. 059

Department of Ar

kansas (Reynolds):

Staff. 37 . . . 38 38

Infantry. 402 10. 677 13. 887 17. 347

Cavalry. 313 8. 283 10. 659 12. 567

Artillery. 38 1. 384 1. 552 1. 810

Total. 790 20. 344 26. 136 31. 762

Department of Mis

sissippi (Dana):

Staff. 30 . . . 30 31

Infantry. 211 5. 944 7. 578 8. 691

Cavalry. 158 5. 135 6. 691 8. 975

Artillery. 124 5. 229 6. 204 6. 769

Total. 523 16. 308 20. 503 24. 466

Pieces of artillery.

Command. Heavy. Field. Headquarters.

General headquar . . . . . . New Orleans, La.

ters.

Department of the Do.

Gulf (Hurlbut):

Staff. . . . . . .

Infantry. 45 4

Cavalry. . . . . . .

Artillery. 191 69

Total. 236 73

Department of Ar Little Rock, Ark.

kansas (Reynolds):

Staff. . . . . . .

Infantry. . . . 3

Cavalry. . . . 4

Artillery. 4 71

Total. 4 78

Department of Mis Memphis, Tenn.

sissippi (Dana):

Staff. . . . . . .

Infantry. . . . 2

Cavalry. . . . . . .

Artillery. 124 142

Total. 124 144