traders should be discouraged as much as possible. Whenever complaints are made by residents in the vicinity of, or at no great distance from, the stations of interference by the Indians with the persons or property of the whites, you will go in person or send a commissioned officer, with a sufficient guard, to the locality, and inquire into the facts, and if necessary order the Indians to remove from the vicinity, reporting the circumstances to these headquarters. No unnecessary harshness will be used in dealing with the Indians, and the officer in command will keep his men under strict discipline and prepared at all times form any emergency. The men of your detachment must not be allowed to be absent from their proper posts, and all the time not necessarily employed will be devoted to drill. Reports to these headquarters will be made at least once a week, and oftener if matters require it.

I am, very respectfully,

JNO. G. TELFORD,

Assistant Adjutant-General.

(Copy to Lieutenant P. S. Gardner, Second Minnesota Cavalry, commanding at Chengwatona.)

HDQRS. DIST. OF MINNESOTA, DEPT. OF THE NORTHWEST,
Saint Paul, Minn., December 8, 1864.

S. S. FIFIELD, Esq.,

Osceola, Polk County, Wis.:

SIR: You are respectfully informed that an official communication from the adjutant-general of the State of Wisconsin, addressed to the general commanding the Department of the Northwest, dated 30th ultimo, and inclosing a letter from yourself, dated 15th ultimo, on the subject of the difficulties between the whites and the Chippewa Indians, has been referred to me for investigation and report and to take such measures as I may deem advisable. Your communication having been addressed to the adjutant-general of Wisconsin before the detachment of troops detailed by me for the protection of the settlers in the Upper Saint Croix Valley had reached Chengwatona, in Pine County, in this State, you are respectfully requested to inform me whether or not, in your judgment, the force stationed at the point indicated is sufficient to secure the settlers against molestation by the Indians and to quiet the general apprehensions heretofore felt by them. It is proper to state in this connection that I selected Chengwatona in accordance with the opinions of gentlemen of standing at Stillwater and other points, who agreed that it would better serve the purposes for which a military force was required in that region than any other locality, as it is not far distant from the lumbering camps and above the principal settlements in the valley. Whole the State of Wisconsin is not comprised within the limits of the military district under my command, I desired so to post the troops as to afford protection to the residents on both sides of the Saint Croix River. I have stationed an officer and about fifty men at Princeton to reassure the people living on that part of the Chippewa border. Before submitting the report to department head quarters referred to, I am desirous to obtain from yourself and other prominent citizens of Polk County such data as may tend to influence my action in the premises. You will please bear in mind that the military authorities cannot interfere with the question of removal of Indians holding friendly relations with the United States to a differ-