have tried them by a commission, but according to your own showing they deserved their fate, and the laws of war would even justify that disposition of men who outraged all the laws of war. I hope their terrible reward of such crime will caution villains against their repetition. I deplore the pretense of trial; that was the worst of the matter, but it is past, and I suppose the horrors of war in this instance has transpired much as it has to thousand in the brush in Missouri. Our troops everywhere now consider it right to kill bushwhackers, even after they surrender; their recent barbarous butcheries in North Missouri, and the tortured bodies of their victims, and the scalps and ears worn on the bushwhackers' bridles, will evince a disregard of all rules of war, and even savage barbarity. I think, therefore, the sympathy of your people better be devoted to better objects of human sympathy, and your professional skill, which is very naturally sensitive when the righteous rule of civil courts are outraged, must yield to the harsh, summary, cruel dictates of the pending trial of war. Fully appreciating your honorable motives that anxiously and sincerely prompt you to a notice of acts that seem dangerous to the fair fame of our cause and country, I express to you my thanks for your communication, but in the sequel, although terrible and swift justice transpires toward our worst foes, those who meet in honorable warfare will justify every outrage committed against those fiends who desert the lines to defy the rules that soldiers expect to follow.

I have the honor to be, sir, your very obedient servant,

S. R. CURTIS,

Major-General.

HDQRS. DIST. OF MINNESOTA, DEPT. OF THE NORTHWEST,
Saint Paul, Minn., October 15, 1864.

Major R. H. ROSE,

Commanding Fort Wadsworth, Dak. Ter.:

MAJOR: Your dispatch of 5th instant to these headquarters reached here last evening, and by direction of General Sibley I proceed to reply to it seriatim. The report of Major Brown, special agent, inclosed in your dispatch, was also received.

First. The number of scouts to be employed was fixed at these headquarters, and repeated instructions were sent Major Clowney on the subject. The large drafts on the subsistence stores of the post, by feeding so many Indians, must be discontinued, as Major Clowney was particularly notified that none but the scouts and their families were to be furnished with regular supplies, as specified in the special order to the commanding officer at Fort Abercrombie, where they first drew their rations. Herewith you will receive a special order regulating the whole matter. The necessary of husbanding every part of the rations at so distant and in winter inaccessible a post as Wadsworth, renders the constant supervision of the commandant of the post a paramount necessity to prevent wastage and improper issues, and exposure to the weather, of articles that may be damaged. Should there prove to be from any cause an insufficient supply you will readily perceive that it would be almost impracticable to replenish the stores during the winter or early in the spring. A full amount of subsistence for 800 men for one year has been dispatched to the post under your command, which should more than suffice for the force that will winter after making every allowance for unavoidable damage and extraordinary issued. The remarks relative to the necessity for the exercise of personal supervision over the subsistence department will also apply to the public property in