HDQRS. DIST. OF MINNESOTA, DEPT. OF THE NORTHWEST, Saint Paul, Minn., August 16, 1864.

Major JOHN CLOWNEY,
Commanding Fort Wadsworth:

MAJOR: Your dispatches of 4th instant, containing details of the selection for the news post and covering report of Captain Burton of his exploration of the James River, have been received, and copies of all these documents have been forwarded to department headquarters. The choice made for the site seems to be a judicious one, but you have not stated the distance to the head of the Coteau. Some alarm has been occasioned in the southwestern part of the State by the raid of a small party of Indians, who murdered two citizens and wounded another and succeeding in escaping with nine stolen horses, although closely pursued by our troops. It would be well to instruct the scouts with you to be on the alert constantly in order to give notice in case any parties of savages are known to be on their way to the settlements.

By command of Brigadier-General Sibley:

Very respectfully, your obedient servant,

R. C. OLIN,

Assistant Adjutant-General.

HEADQUARTERS OF THE ARMY, Washington, D. C., August 17, 1864.

Lieutenant-General GRANT,
City Point:

GENERAL: I inclosure herewith a copy of a letter* just received from General Pope, from which you will see the difficulty of immediately withdrawing troops form his department and the necessary loss of property and increase of Indian difficulties resulting therefrom. It is a very great mistake to suppose that General Pope has retained an unnecessarily large force in his department. On the contrary I have found him the most ready of all the department commanders to give assistance to other s when asked, certainly quite a contrast to some of the present and former commanders of the Departments of Kansas, Missouri, and Ohio, In additional to the pressing representations of the Governors of Kansas, Nebraska, Idaho, and Colorado, and Generals Curtis, Blunt and so forth, the Indian Bureau and Interior Department all urge the absolute necessity of sending more troops into the Indian country if we wish avoid a general Indian war. Undoubtedly much of this is gotten up by Indian agents and speculators for their own purposes. Nevertheless, in view of existing hostilities in that quarter, the breaking up of the overland mail route, the capture of military posts, and the murder of emigrants, the military authorities will be very seriously blamed if they withdraw the troops now there. It is pretended by the Indian Bureau and the Territorial official that there is undoubted evidence of a much larger combination and a much more extensive Indian war pending in the Northwest than in 1862.

Very respectfully, your obedient servant,

H. W. HALLECK,

Major-General and Chief of Staff.

[AUGUST 17, 1864.-For Canby to Halleck and Sherman to Canby, in relation to operations in Mobile Bay, see Vol. XXXIX, Part II, p. 264.]

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*See Pope to Halleck, August 12, p. 675.

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