This force, including about forty scouts, numbered 1,551 men, all mounted, and Colonel M. T. Thomas, of the Eighth Minnesota Volunteers, was placed in command, with orders to march on the 6th of June to Swan Lake, the locality on the Missouri River indicated for the junction with Brigadier-General Sully. The route was prescribed by me,and so well timed was the movement that the co-operations from this district reached Swan Lake only a few hours after the arrival of the other brigade, having marched 332 miles from Fort Ridgely.

The operations of General Sully being confined entirely to the limits of his own district, it is no part of my duty follow his movements or detail the part taken by the brigade from this district in the two successive engagements which resulted in the defeat of the Teton bands of Sioux with a heavy loss in warriors, and the sacrifice of a very large amount of subsistence, buffalo robes, cooking utensils, &c. In these conflicts I have good reason for the belief that the Minnesota troops gallantly performed their part. The Eighth Regiment Minnesota Volunteers is now on the way to this city en route for the South, in accordance with your directions, and the other detachments are being stationed for the additional defense of the frontier. The Sixth Regiment Minnesota Volunteers was, by directions of the War Department, communicated through you, dispatched to Helena, Ark., from this district on the 14th of June last. The chasm created by the removal of that regiment from the line of posts north and south of the Minnesota River,including Fort Ridgely, was but partially and insufficiently filled by two companies of the Second Minnesota Cavalry, which was all the disposable force at my command for that purpose, and I felt great anxiety lest a knowledge on the part of the powerful bands of Sioux on the north of the Missouri that very few troops left for the protection of so long a line would embolden them to make a demonstration in force and renew the atrocities of 1862. That this was not done can be accounted for in no other way than that they had not yet recovered from the demoralizing effects of the defeats encountered by them during the campaigns of 1862 and 1863. Fort Wadsworth, so denominated by order of the War Department, is a new post in process of construction near the head of the Coteau des Prairies, about 190 miles from Fort Ridgely and seventy-five from Fort Abercrombie. Your directions required me to build the fort on the James River, if timber sufficient could be found,and if not, to select the nearest practicable site to that stream. After a full examination of the valley of the James River by Captain Burton, a competent and judicious officer, Major Clowney, of the Thirtieth Wisconsin Volunteers, who had been chosen by me to carry out your instructions, became satisfied, as I had previously been from personal observation, that no wood a military post could be found on the upper James River. Following my orders he examined the country near the head of the Coteau des Prairies, and fixed what is represented by all who have seen it to be a very commanding and defensible position. The work was energetically and prosecuted by Major Clowney, and is proceeding as rapidly as possible under the direction of his successor, Major Rose, Second Minnesota Cavalry, who with four companies of that regiment has relieved the four companies of the Thirteenth Wisconsin Volunteers at that post. The latter command is on its way to this city, being ordered to the South. Fort Wadsworth is one of the most important military stations of the Northwest. It is to be hoped that your intention to construct a similar large fort at Devil's Lake can be successfully carried out during the coming year, thus completely the cordon of posts in the heart of the Indian country.