kets and ammunition sufficient for our protection and defense, and started for Fort Leavenworth on the 20th. Found all the ranches on the Little Blue burned, and to the best of my opinion the owners of these ranches are with the Indians. There was plenty of wood and water on my route between Kearny and Fort Leavenworth. Made the trip in eight days and a half, arriving at the fort on the evening of the 28th of October, 1864.

In my judgment the best time and manner to hunt Indians is to start about the middle of May, leave all wagons behind, take mules and pack them; a mule will carry from 250 to 300 pounds; then they can go over the same ground that the Indians do, get on their trail and follow it up until they are caught. In the summer of 1860 four companies of the Fourth [First] U. S. Cavalry, commanded by Major Sedgwick, started from Fort Riley, Kans, after Kiowas, but could not overtake the Indians on account of their being encumbered with wagons; so they left their wagons at Fort Larned and started with pack-mules. The result was that the Indians were overtaken in twenty-five days on the headwaters of the Smoky Hill River, and gave them a severe thrashing.

As to the utility of artillery my opinion is not favorable. The Indians fight so scattered and are so seldom found in solid bodies, that artillery cannot be effective. The least possible incumbrance is necessary to rapid movements; and the arrangements which facilitate such movements will most nearly approach success.

The country through which we passed this summer has a great sameness. This country has a greater altitude than here, and in the highlands is comparatively barren. No grass, wood, or water is to be found of any consequence, except on the creek bottoms, and back from there nothing grows but buffalo grass. The land is also very broken, with deep ravines leading into the streams; and in traveling through the country it is necessary to take one of the ridges to get to the streams. The expedition, although not encountering Indians in numbers, nor accomplishing any great defeat or startling surprises, is not without its effect. The expedition itself will show the determination of the Government to punish them for thieving and murder. And our movements, although rapid, failing to discover them, show how much they were in fear of us, as the country through which we passed was almost cleared of them; they receded as we advanced, and, on the whole, the expedition will have a moral and I trust a lasting influence.

I have the honor to be, captain, your obedient servant,

THOS. FLANAGAN,

1st Lieutenant Co. M, 16th Kans. Vol. Cav., Commanding Detach. of Post Arty.

Captain D. J. CRAIGIE,

Assistant Adjutant-General, Dist. of North Kansas.

AUGUST 12, 1864.-Affair in the San Andres Mountains, N. Mex.

Report of Captain Henry A. Greene, First California Infantry.

HEADQUARTERS FOR McRAE,
District of Fort Craig, N. Mex., August 13, 1864.

SIR: I have the honor to inform you that pursuant to information received from you by special express, dated 11th instant, I mounted one officer and fifteen men and proceeded in search of the Indians who had been committing depredations. Other parties sent from this post at the same time scoured the Jornada to San Diego Crossing. Pro-