this regard as fully as possible; the chief point being to keep the negroes quiet and at work at present. Time will regulate the matter eventually and both employers and employed will come to know what they must do.

I have the honor to be, colonel, Your very obedient servant,

WM. H. CLAPP,

Captain and Assistant Adjutant-General.

HDQRS. CAVALRY FORCES, DEPARTMENT OF THE GULF,
New Orleans, La., June 13, 1865.

Major P. D. VROOM,

Actg. Asst. Adjt. General, Cavalry Forces, Vicksburg, Miss.:

The troops are now subject to the orders of Major-general Sheridan, who has been notified that they are now ready.

S. L. WOODWARD,

Major and Assistant Adjutant-General.

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR,

Washington, June 13, 1865.

Honorable EDWIN M. STANTON,

Secretary of War:

SIR: I have the honor to transmit herewith a copy of a communication from the Honorable J. R. Doolittle, chairman of the Select Committee to Investigate Indian Affairs, in relation to threatened hostilities by Indians of the Southern plains, together with a copy of the report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, of the 12th instant, on the subject of Mr. Doolittle's letter, to which appears I respectfully invite Your attention.

I am, sir, very respectfully, Your obedient servant,

JAS. HARLAN,

Secretary.

[Inclosure Numbers 1.]

FORT LARNED, May 31, 1865.

Honorable JAMES HARLAN:

SIR: We arrived here this morning. We find General Ford, in command of District of the Upper Arkansas, under orders from General Dodge to commence active hostilities against the Indians - the Cheyennes, Arapahoes, Kiowas, and Comanches - who are now all south of the Arkansas and said to be confederated together. They number some 5,000 to 7,000 warriors, are well mounted, the greatest horsemen in the world, and in a country they have held for hundreds of years; and if we must have war, we must have at least 5,000 mounted troops, and there will be an expense of from $25,000,000 to $50,000,000. As yet no great amount of bloodshed has taken place, except the treacherous, brutal, and cowardly butchery of the Cheyennes on Sand Creek, an affair in which the blame is on our side. It is that affair which has combined all the tribes against us. And why not? They were invited to place themselves under our protection. The sacred honor of our flag was violated, and unsuspecting women and children butchered, and their bodies horribly mutilated, and scenes enacted that a fiend should blush to record. We found Colonel Leavenworth at Cow Creek,