his command to the lowest possible limit, and to reduce expenses as much as it was possible to do so, I received from General Dodge a reply, a copy of which is herewith inclosed. * It is proper to remark that the quartermaster and commissary depots at Leavenworth, as also is Saint Louis, are under the immediate orders of the chiefs of those department in Washington, and not in any manner under the control of military commanders in this region. The depots at Fort Leavenworth are for the supply of all forces west and southwest of that place, including New Mexico, whether in this department or any other. The stores sent from Leavenworth, therefore, are very much larger than are required in this department, and no requisition from any officer serving in this department should be filled those depots without first being approved by the chief quartermaster and chief commissary of the department. I have ordered that hereafter no requisition for supplies of any kind from officers under my command shall be made except upon the proper officers at these headquarters. An order from the War Department to the officers in charge of these deports to furnish no supplies unless requisitions are first approved at the headquarters of the department needing them, will probably effect a considerate reduction of issues. I recommend that such an order be made.

In relation to reduction of forces on the plains I present the following statement and suggestions: All the tribes of Indians east of mountains, and many west, are in open hostility. They attack the mail coaches, emigrant trains, and small posts continually. The United States is required to protect the great overland routes passing in several directions through this great Indian region. Protection is thus required along 3,500 miles of road, nearly all of which lies in an uninhabited country, and yet over which are daily passing the U. S. mails to the Territories and the Pacific, crowds of emigrants, and great trains of supplies for the as well as individuals and small parties of travelers. The threatened difficulties with the Mormons in Utah also demand attention, and the civil officers appointed for that Territory by the Government, as well as the citizens of the United States now there and going there, absolutely need military protection to enable them to remain in the Territory at all. This condition of affairs certainly demands a considerate military force, if the Government means to assure security of life and of property to emigrants across the plains and to settlers in the newly opened Territories. The Indian question is the most difficult, and I confess I do not see how it is to be solved without an entire change of the Indian policy which has hitherto been and must, under the laws, now be pursued. The development of the rich mining regions in the Territories of itself has attracted great throngs of emigrants, and their number has been tenfold increased by the necessary result of the late civil war. Thousands of families who have been disloyal or have been sympathizers with the South have, since the conclusion of the war, found it difficult, if not impossible, to continue to live at their homes, and have left the States of Missouri, Arkansas, Southern Illinois, Kentucky, and no doubt other Southern States, to make their permanent homes in the new Territories. Many thousands of men who been discharged from the Army are also seeking the mining regions. A surprising emigration has been going forward ever since the opening of spring and seems still to flow on without cessation. Not alone, or even generally, are the great overland routes pursued by these great throngs of emigrants. Every route supposed to be practicable in explored by them. They make highways

---------------

* See Dodge to Pope July 31, Part I, p. 351.

---------------