These Indians, as you are aware, no doubt, have for many years been at war with the Sioux. At present the Sioux, who are friendly to the whites, do not molest them, except by horse-stealing, which many of the friendly Sioux consider as yet a legitimate business, so far as regards these Indians. Even the Yanctons make raids on them, coming a distance of over five hundred miles to procure horses. Occasionally the Berthold Indians retaliate, and frequently Indians on both sides are killed in these operations. The hostile Sioux, how ever, kill them whenever they get the opportunity.

Being a very small body of Indians-not over two thousand, men, women, and children, in these three tribes-they dare not leave their village to hunt, even a short distance, without they all go together. They have to depend chiefly on cultivating the soil, and should the season prove an unsuccessful one, which is frequently the case in this section, they suffer greatly. They are warm friends to the whites; but at times, when they are almost starving to death, it is difficult for the chiefs and old men to keep their people from joining the more successful and happy hostile Sioux.

Policy, as well as humanity, demands that the government make more strenuous efforts to ameliorate their condition. We were very sorry to hear them express themselves so much opposed to the military. The troops lately have been moved from this place to a point twenty miles below. They begged that we would request the Great Father never to let the troops be located any nearer their village. If all the complaints they made of the actions of the troops are true, we are compelled to say that the commanding officer of this post showed a very great want of judgment in his intercourse with them. This request of theirs in regard to removal of troops is the more remarkable, as in 1864, at their urgent request for their protection, I stationed a company there, and during the time I was in command, up to 1866, I never had any complaint from them on this subject.

The order issued, prohibiting the sale of arms and ammunition to Indians, though a very necessary order as far as it regards the hostile Indians, is a very cruel and unnecessary one as far as it concerns these friendly Indians. While I was in command I furnished them with thirty old muskets and ammunition to protect themselves. These have since been taken away from them.

Another order issued, prohibiting traders from accompanying the village in winter when they move on their hunt, is very hard on these Indians. Timber being scarce in the vicinity of their village, they are obliged, in the cold weather, to move to the timber above. There they hunt. Sometimes they are located over sixty miles from Berthold. It is almost impossible for them to travel from their camps to Berthold in small parties, and without they do that they cannot procure the few necessaries they require to live on. We recommend that some limit be placed on the profits of the traders. These Indians complain bitterly about this; and from what we can learn, the traders at Berthold pay six pints of sugar, two pints of coffee, and four pints of flour, for a robe; in value, not over two or three dollars for a robe worth ten dollars at least.

These Indians, unlike the Sioux, are an agricultural nation, and are very anxious that the government furnish them with assistance to cultivate the soil. In fact, all the Indians we have so far met with express a desire to try the experiment of planting, except the very wild ones, who tell the others, "We will wait and see you try it first, and if you succeed, then we will follow your example." As it appears to be the desire of the government to induce the Indians to cultivate the soil, which will tend very much to civilize them and stop their warlike habits, we cannot too strongly urge upon the government the necessity of doing all they can to furnish them with the necessary implements, and render them some assistance in ploughing the soil. This should be done promptly, as promises made them not fulfilled, and delay, may cause many to give up in disgust their present good intentions.

I would beg leave to add that this letter has been read to the Rev. Father De Smet, who concurs in all that is said.

Very respectfully, your obedient servant,

ALF. SULLY,

Brevet Brigadier General, President of Commission.

Hon. N. G. TAYLOR,
Commissioner of Indian Affairs.

No. 44.

FORT PHILIP Kearney, Dakota Territory,

June 4, 1867.

SIR: I have the honor to enclose a copy of the proceedings of the special Indian commission, of date Fort Laramie, Dakota Territory, May 10, 1867.

In pursuance of the resolution which is herewith transmitted, I left Fort Laramie, Dakota Territory, on the 13th of May, under the escort of Brevet Lieutenant Colonel John Green, of the second United States cavalry, and arrived at this post on the 31st of May.

Nothing of importance occurred en route, with the exception of the appearance of hostile Indians on two different occasions, one at Bridger's Ferry, and the other at Sage creek. At Bridger's Ferry the Indians appeared in considerable force and drove off the cattle of Mr. Jules Coffey, a freighter of government commissary stores for this post.

Colonel Green promptly sent a number of mounted men, who recovered all the stock and captured two Indian ponies, without the loss of life on either side.

At Sage creek a number of Indians were seen about our camps, evidently in pursuit of stock; and on this occasion Colonel Green, in person, with three lieutenants and about fifty mounted men, pursued them about two miles. The Indians at times stopped to fire, and succeeded in killing two cavalry horses. The troops killed one Indian and one Indian pony.

On each of these occasions I am fully persuaded that the Indians were hostile, and belonged to bands of war parties that are now infesting the road between Fort C. F. Smith, Dakota Territory, and the crossing of the North Platte. The arrows that were found upon the Indian that was killed are pronounced by good judges to be Cheyennes', but the hostile bands now operating upon this road are mainly Sioux.

These bands are led by Red Cloud, and the commission, at Fort McPherson, went so far as to send a message to General Wessels, of this post, by him to be sent to this chief, asking why he was at war, and whether he wished to meet, or would send any message to, the commission sent out by his Great Father. This message was intrusted to a Crow Indian at this place, and sent to Red Cloud, but as yet no answer has been returned.

On arriving at this post I found a small camp of Crow Indians, who, in connection with many others, had come here to meet the commission upon the invitation forwarded from Fort McPherson.

In consequence of our detention at points below, and my slow progress from Fort Laramie, Dakota Territory, to this place, quite a number of these Indians, becoming impatient at the delay of the commission, left on a hunt for Tongue river. I found in camp here the following chiefs: White Mouth, Bad Elk, and Roman Nose. White Mouth is one of the principal chiefs of the nation.

After a short interview with these chiefs, giving them some idea of my mission to the Crows, and making them a few presents, I engaged Roman Nose to go to the villages and inform the Crows that I had arrived, and request them to come as soon as possible to see me.

These villages are located as follows: the first on Tongue river, about sixty

five miles distant, and is composed of one hundred and ten lodges; the second about forty-five miles further on, and composed of ten lodges; and the third about thirty miles still further on, upon the Yellowstone river, and is composed of about forty lodges.

The names of the principal chiefs as they rank in the Crow nation are as follows: Winking Eye, Shot-in-the-Jaw, White Mouth, Thin Belly, Black Foot, Bird-on-the-Neck, Roman Nose, Long Horse, Bad Tooth, and Bad Elk. A few days before I arrived the hostile Sioux came down upon the ponies of the Crows while herding at this place, and drove off in broad daylight fortythree of them, which were not recovered. I was obliged to furnish Roman Nose with a horse to bear my message, and instructed him to send Indian runners out from the nearest villages to the most remote, and to hasten the Indians in as soon as possible. I shall probably be delayed here until the 1st of August before I can see all these Indians.

In the war against these northern Sioux that seems now inevitable, the importance of separating from the scene of action the Crow Indians, and making of them permanent allies and friends, cannot be too highly estimated. They are peculiarly situated. The country from the Powder river to the Yellowstone river was their country until 1859, when they were driven from it by the Sioux. These mountain Crows have always been the friends of the whites. They would like to follow their instincts, which would lead them to oppose the Sioux, but being weak and the Sioux powerful, negotiations have been pending and an informal treaty of peace made by which they were to be friends with the Sioux. Without our protection, self-preservation will require them to join. the Sioux. They much prefer the former.

I impressed upon Roman Nose the necessity of gathering in all the mountain. Crows, intending as I do to locate them near this post while the war continues. In my own judgment they should be reinstated in the country of which they have been deprived. The Crows should be saved from alliance with the Sioux, not only for their own sakes, as an act of justice to them, but to limit as far as possible the number of Indians to be subdued.

It has been the policy of the commission to separate and protect all, without inquiring into their past conduct, who are now willing to be at peace with their Great Father. No class of Indians are better entitled to this consideration than the Crows.

Communication for the last six months has only been kept up between this post and Fort C. F. Smith, ninety-five miles above, through Crow messengers sent from the respective posts, and it is believed that Fort C. F. Smith with its small garrison of two companies has been saved by the timely advices communicated to the commanding officer of that post by the Crows.

In case I succeed in bringing in the Crows and establishing them near this post it will be necessary for your department to furnish them with supplies, such as flour, beans, rice, corn, and a little sugar and coffee; the corn for their own consumption and not for their horses. It will also be necessary that all suitable military protection be extended to them against incursions from the Sioux. I regret that answers to our despatches from below, asking for specific instructions in relation to these Indians, have not come to hand. I find myself embarrassed, not having direct authority to promise protection, future supplies, or to reinstate them permanently in their country.

While speaking with Thin Belly, he advanced the point that forty-three ponies, stolen by the Sioux, mentioned before in this communication, were lost while the Crows were waiting for the commission, after the time set for the commission to arrive, and that the government should replace the stock lost, and this is some embarrassment to me in treating with them.

In consequence of the condition of the country, I cannot hope to receive any more definite instructions before it will be time to act. I shall not, however, hesi

tate to take such responsibility as may seem best for the public interest, trusting that, in the exigencies of the case, a liberal construction of my instructions will be deemed sufficient authority for taking such responsibility.

For present supplies for the Indians I shall probably be able to procure a portion from the commissary department at this post, General H. W. Wessels, commanding the district, being disposed to extend every reasonable facility to the commission in the discharge of its duty; but in case I succeed, as I hope to do, in locating the Indians temporarily here, while the war continues, it will be necessary for arrangements to be made by your department for their sustenance. It was suggested by the commission, before leaving Fort Laramie, that it might become necessary, in consequence of the peculiar position of this nation, that a few of the principal chiefs visit Washington. Of this, however, I shall be more able to speak when the Indians arrive.

I shall keep you fully advised of the result of the conferences which I may have with these Indians.

If this is received by July 10, I doubt not a telegraphic communication to Fort Laramie, Dakota Territory, would reach me here before I leave. I forward this letter by an ox-train, the only method of communication between this point and Fort Laramie, at this time.

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

Hon. N. G. TAYLOR,

J. F. KINNEY, Special Indian Commissioner.

Commissioner of Indian Affairs, Washington, D. C.

FORT LARAMIE, DAKOTA TERRITORY,

May 10, 1867.

At a meeting of the special Indian commission held at this post on the 7th instant, the following resolution was passed, and is now part of the records of the commission :

Resolved, That Judge J. F. Kinney do proceed to Fort Philip Kearney, or C. F. Smith, and visit the Mountain Crows, and such other Indians as may be ready to meet the commission in that region, and exercise all the authority of this commission in regard to said Indians, with authority to expend for presents for them, if satisfied of their friendship, a sum not exceeding three thousand dollars.

A true copy:

ALF. SULLY, Brevet Brigadier General, President.

S. T. BULKLEY, Secretary.

No. 45.

DEPARTMENT of the Interior, Office of Indian Affairs,
Washington, D. C., July 9, 1867.

Do not bring the Crows to the fort, but leave them in their own country on Tongue river. If driven from there by troops or Sioux, have them come to a railroad, or some place on the Missouri river, and this department will feed them. Upon your return, turn in all public property of this department to H. B. Denman, Omaha, and take receipt.

Hon. J. F. KINNEY,

N. G. TAYLOR, Commissioner.

Special Indian Commissioner, Fort Philip Kearney,
Care of G. P. Beauvais, Fort Laramie, D. T.

In compliance with a resolution of the Senate of the 3d instant, information in relation to orders, instructions, circular letters, or letters of advice issued to the respective military officers assigned to the command of the several military districts under the act passed March 2, 1867, entitled "An act to provide for the more efficient government of the rebel States," and the act supplementary thereto, passed March 28, 1867, and the opinions given by the Attorney General touching the construction and interpretation of said acts.

JULY 15, 1867.-Read; ordered to lie on the table and be printed.

To the Senate of the United States:

I transmit herewith reports from the Secretary of War and the Attorney General, containing the information called for by the resolution of the Senate of the 3d instant, requesting the President "to communicate to the Senate copies of all orders, instructions, circular letters, or letters of advice issued to the respective military officers assigned to the command of the several military districts, under the act passed March 2, 1867, entitled An act to provide for the more efficient government of the rebel States,' and the act supplementary thereto, passed March 23, 1867; also copies of all opinions given to him by the Attorney General of the United States, touching the construction and interpretation of said acts, and of all correspondence relating to the operation, construction, or execution of said acts that may have taken place between himself and any of said commanders, or between him and the General of the army, or between the latter and any of the said commanders, touching the same subjects; also copies of all orders issued by any of said commanders, in carrying out the provisions of said acts or either of them; also that he inform the Senate what progress has been made in the matter of registration under said acts, and whether the sum of money heretofore appropriated for carrying them out is probably sufficient."

In answer to that portion of the resolution which inquires whether the sum of money heretofore appropriated for carrying these acts into effect is probably sufficient, reference is made to the accompanying report of the Secretary of War. It will be seen from that report that the appropriation of five hundred thousand dollars, made in the act approved March 30, 1867, for the purpose of carrying into effect the "Act to provide for the more efficient government of the rebel States," passed March 2, 1867, and the act supplementary thereto, passed March 23, 1867, has already been expended by the commanders of the several military districts, and that, in addition, the sum of $1,648,277 is required for present purposes.