[First indorsement.]

Respectfully referred to the Secretary of War for approval before being dispatched.

U. S. GRANT,

Lieutenant-General.

[Second indorsement.]

Approved.

E. M. STANTON,

Secretary of War.

SAINT LOUIS, MO., June 2, 1865.

General DODGE,

Fort Leavenworth:

The above dispatch received and forwarded for your information and action.

JOHN POPE,

Major-General.

HEADQUARTERS MILITARY DIVISION OF THE MISSOURI,
Saint Louis, Mo., June 2, 1865.

Lieutenant General U. S. GRANT,

Washington:

The brigade of Michigan cavalry arrived here to-day, but only brought 600 horses and some of those unfit for service.

JOHN POPE,

Major-General, Commanding.

HEADQUARTERS MILITARY DIVISION OF THE MISSOURI,
Saint Louis, MO., June 2, 1865.

Lieutenant General U. S. GRANT,

General-in-Chief U. S. Army, Washington, D. C.:

GENERAL: I have the honor to transmit inclosed copy of a letter from Brigadier General H. H. Sibley, commanding District of Minnesota, to Major-General Curtis, commanding Department of the Northwest, and forwarded to me by the latter officer without comment. * It seems difficult to know what reply to make to such communications. They exhibit a panic which I hardly know how to deal with, except by asking you to send me an officer to command in Minnesota who is not subject to such uneasiness. I telegraphed you for Brigadier General W. L. Elliott for that service, but any active, efficient officer, suitable for such a command, will be satisfactory. General Sibley has in Minnesota nineteen companies of cavalry, five companies of infantry, and one of artillery, numbering present for duty, according to his last return, 2,490 men. Of this force 1,869 are cavalry. The nearest hostile Sioux Indians, in any considerable force, are more than 300 miles distant from the extreme frontier settlements of Minnesota. Small predatory parties come down toward the settlements to steal horses and commit other hostile acts, but they ought with such a force always to be intercepted and cut off. The Chippewas along the Upper Mississippi and Lake Superior have always been friendly and are not numerous. Such a force as this in Minnesota is unheard of in all previous time. I cannot believe that it

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*See Sibley to Charlot, May 24, p. 590.

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