the concurrence of the President, addressed a communication to the Honorable James A. Seldon, the then Secretary of War, calling his attention to the importance of conciliating the Comanche Indians, and, if practicable, and he considered it so, of forming an alliance with them, which being effected, would enable the Confederate Government to use them as auxiliaries in harassing and even cutting off all communication by trains of the United States with Santa Fe, and would, further-more, permit the withdrawal of the troops stationed on the frontier of Texas, all further danger of the inroads of those savages upon that State being removed, and using them on the line of defense threatened by the Northern invasion. On the day following the Secretary of War addressed a communication to me, inclosing the above letter, and concurring in the views expressed therein, called my attention to the great benefit that would probably accrue to the Confederate States by an alliance with the Comanches and other wild tribes of the prairies, and announced further that to effect the end proposed he had, with the concurrence of the President, deemed it best that the matter should be left to my discretion and judgment, and directed me to employ such instrumentalities and engage such agents as I might approve. About the time these letters were received I also was in receipt of a communication of date of 16th of February, 1865, from Major I. G. Vore, commissioner and C. S. agent for the Creeks, who had been sent by Major-General Maxey, then commanding the District of Indian Territory, to the Cherokee village on the False Washita, for the purpose of meeting the Comanches and other wild tribes of the plains for the purpose of discovering their real intentions and their true reason for their expressed desire of forming a treaty of peace with the Confederate States Government. Major Vore announced in his report to Major-General Maxey that he had not arrived in time to meet the Indians, but he was well assured they were in reality enraged against the United States, and were anxious to make peace with the Confederates, desiring to bring thereupon their wives and children to a place of safety near our lines where they could leave them secure while they could go to war with the North. Major Vore sent word to these Indians that some commissioners with authority from the Confederate States would meet them at the grand peace council of all the Indian tribes that was proposed to be held at Council Grove on the 15th of May, 1865, and strongly urged it in his communication, as he was firmly of the belief that an alliance could be formed with them. Major Vore further considered that these Indians were very anxious, and would name it a condition precedent to the formation of a treaty, that Article XXVII of the treaty of the 12th of August, 1861, between them and yourself as commissioner on the part of the Confederate States Government should be enforced. I subsequently received letters from Brigadier-General McCulloch, commanding Northern Sub-District of Texas, and Colonel Lee, commanding the Confederate troops at Fort Arbuckle, advising me of the fact, from the reliable information they had received, that these wild tribes were enraged against the North, and that they were desirous of concluding a treaty of peace with the South, and urging the importance it would be to the country upon this fact being accomplished. I was fully aware and had fully considered the numerous advantages, both state and military, that would accrue from the conclusion of such a treaty and alliance as proposed, and upon the receipt of the above communications, knowing the necessity of prompt and immediate action, as there was no time to lose, and considering that a prudent and intelligent man, familiar alike with the wants and necessities of the frontier and possessing an accurate