HDQRS. DIST. OF MINNESOTA, DEPT. OF THE NORTHWEST,
Saint Paul, Minn., May 24, 1865.

Major C. S. CHARLOT,

Asst. Adjt. General, Hdqrs. Dept. of the Northwest, Milwaukee, Wis.:

MAJOR: Please find inclosed copy of dispatch from Lieutenant Gardner, commanding station at Chengwatona, on the Chippewa border, in which previous reports of intended hostilities on the part of those Indians are corroborated. The orderly sergeant of the company, who brought down the document, state the impression to be general that the Chippewas will inaugurate a war upon the whites so soon as their families are safely disposed of. The removal of the latter is an unusual and therefore suspicious proceeding. I dispatched to you on the 22nd instant a communication addressed tome by the U. S. agent from Bayfield, on Lake Superior, expressing his apprehensions and asking that troops may be stationed in that quarter. Major Morrill, late U. S. Indian agent for the Mississippi bands of Chippewas, who is well acquainted with their feelings and intentions, also shares in the fear of a general outbreak of these savages. I trust that the menacing aspect of affairs indicating a concerted movement on the part of the Sioux and Chippewas, which may result in a desolating war involving the frontier settlements of Minnesota, Iowa, and Wisconsin in one common ruin, will induce the Government to order a sufficient number of troops to this district effectually to crush out the hostility of the disaffected tribes, and summarily to close this Indian war, so detrimental to the prosperity of the extreme Northwestern States.

I am, major, very respectfully, your obedient servant,

H. H. SIBLEY,

Brigadier-General, Commanding.

[Inclosure.]

HDQRS. COMPANY M, SECOND CAVALRY MINNESOTA, VOLS.,
Chengwatona, Minn., May 20, 1865.

Lieutenant GEORGE W. PRESCOTT,

Acting Assistant Adjutant-General, Saint Paul, Minn.:

SIR: A half-breed named Alexander La Prairie, from the Indian camps at Mud and Long Lakes, called here and informed me that the Indians are moving their families to Lake Superior, and are bound to make some trouble this summer. He said there are many (about one-third of them) who will not partake in a war against the whites. This half-breed, a very clever man, educated in Ohio, has served and fought in one of the Wisconsin regiments in the South. He lived all winter with the Chippewas, who are of the opinion that he will join them in the assault on the whites, he being served with the war tobacco. He says that Hole-in-the-Day is the chief instigator of all the plots concocted against the white people by the Chippewas. All the Indians and half-breed whom I have questioned during the last week beieve that the Chippewas will break out this summer, but cannot say what time. The said Alexander La Prairie went up the country for the purpose, as he says, of obtaining more particulars in regard to the movements of the Indians. All remains quiet and tranquil at this station.

Very respectfully, your obedient servant,

P. S. GARDNER,

First Lieutenant Company M, Second Cavalry Minnesota Vols.