Benj. Alvord to Prairie, October 6, 1863

Fort Vancouver, Wash. Ter., October 6, 1863.

GENERAL:

I have the honor to report for the information of the War Department the operations of the troops in the District of Oregon since I assumed command on the 7th of July, 1862. The boundaries of the district are the same known on military maps as those of the old Department of Oregon, including all of the former Territory of Oregon as organized in 1848, excepting the valleys of the Umpqua and Rogue Rivers. It now includes part of the State of Oregon, all of W ashington Territory, and the portion of Idaho Territory west of the Rocky Mountains. Three companies of First Oregon Cavalry, under command of Lieut. Col. R. F. Maury, were ordered to leave Fort Walla Walla on the 25th of July, 1862, to proceed upon theemigrant road as far as Salmon Falls, on Snake River, for the protection of the expected emigration, the command not to return to Fort Walla Walla until the 1st of November. The duty was faithfully and efficiently discharged by Colonel Maury. The movement in connection with Captain Crawford’s emigrant escort party from Omaha, Nebr., afforded effectual protection to the emigration, which amounted to 2,000 wagons, or about 10,000 souls that autumn. I also ordered in July, 1862, a company of cavalry to encamp in the Nez Percé country, near the agency, for the protection of that tribe so far as practicable from the intrusion of the whites, who in search of gold had (previously to my being placed in command) invaded the Nez Percé Indian Reservation without authority to the number of some 10,000 or 15,000 people in violation of the provisions of the treaty, and in contempt of the rights of the Indians. Hearing of threatened collision in that region between the Indians and the whites, I left on the 16th of October ‘for the Nez Percé country. Before I reached there two murders of white men by the Indians oceurred, almost the very first ever attributed to that tribe, who have been proverbial for their persistent friendship for the whites. Finding among the chiefs (who surrendered the murderers) a great desire for the continuance of the soldiers among them, I ordered another company there and established a post at Fort Lapwai. The reasons which impelled me to do so were fully reported in a S to headquarters Department of the Pacific dated 4th of November, 1862, which I have been informed was forwarded to the War Department. The effect of the establishment of the post

was very salutary, and paved the way for the successful negotiations of a treaty with that tribe on the 9th of June last, by which they have surrendered the greater portion of their reservation, including all of the gold-mining regions.

On the 9th of May last I assembled six companies of troops, under command of Col. J. Steinberger, First Washington Territory Infantry, at Fort Lapwai, preliminary to said negotiations. I have no doubt that the concentration of those troops had a salutary effect on all the surrounding tribes, as well as furthering the success of the council. All those Indian tribes have remained at peace with whom the Indian wars of 1855, 1856, and 1858 were carried on, and the only Indians who have committed assaults upon the frontier have been the Snakes. The Snakes speak the Comanche language, have the same habits, and are in fact a branch of the Comanche tribes of the region east of the Rocky Mountains. On the 14th of October, 1862, I sent to department headquarters a letter (forwarded afterward to the Adjutant-General of the Army) recommending the establishment of a military post at or near Fort Boisé for the protection of emigrants and settlers in that country. On the 29th of January I received instructions from department headquarters, pursuant to the authority of the Secretary of War, to make the necessary arrangements for the establishment of a post at Fort Boisé. Said arrangements were made with the assistance of Bvt. Maj. P. Lugenbeel, Ninth Infantry, to whom the command of the troops destined for that post was given. After a careful reconnaissance he established it on the 4th of July at a point about forty-three miles east of old Fort Boisé and 275 miles from Wallula (the depot on the Columbia River better known as old Fort Walla Walla). He has found a good site for a saw-mill on a creek ten miles from the post. He has commenced, agreeably to instructions, the erection of temporary quarters for a five-company post, three of infantry and two of cavalry. Ihave no doubt he has located the post judiciously and that he has practiced the utmost economy, which was strictly enjoined upon him. During this winter for want of forage the cavalry, with the exception of twenty-five men, will withdraw to Fort Walla Walla. A population of 10,000 or 15,000 people have gone into those mines and that whole region is fast increasing in importance. Colonel Maury, with three companies of First Oregon Cavalry and two of infantry, was ordered to proceed in July last from Fort Boisé to a point on Snake River above Fort Hall for the protection of the emigration. He has at last dates successfully carried out the plan, and on the 17th of August, 1863, met Capt. M. Crawford, assistant quartermaster, in charge of the emigrant escort, at the ferry on Snake River, as had been arranged by me early in the spring when Captain Crawford left here for Washington City. Owing to the pacification effected by General Connor and Governor Doty, of Utah, the Snake Indians upon that route have been very quiet this summer. Colonel Maury is now on his return to Fort Walla Walla, and has crossed Snake River at Salmon Falls and intended thence to proceed to the headwaters of the Owyhee and Malheur Rivers, southwest of Fort Boisé, in which quarters it was reported that the Snake Indians had fired upon some of the miners prospecting for gold. Colonel Maury was directed this year, as also a year ago, not to return to Fort Walla Walla until the 1st of Noveinber, thereby insuring the most efficient protection which could be rendered before the commencement of winter. The experience of former expeditions, as in the unfortunate massacre of September, 1860, had admonished me that the troops should not return to the military posts until the approach of

winter rendered it necessary. I thus claim that during the summer and fall of 1862 and-1863 the emigrant road has been protected in a well-planned and systematic manner and that Oregon can felicitate itself that the emigrants have not been subjected to the heartrending massacres which have sometimes carried so much pain to all on this frontier. South of Auburn and near Canyon City the Snakes have killed some miners and committed some depredations. It will no doubt be necessary next spring to send if possible an efficient expedition against these Indians into the region southeast of Fort Dalles and west of Fort Boisé. The mineral wealth of that country will be explored by the hardy and adventurous miners, and it will be our duty doubtless to give them all possible protection in the undertaking. I am pleased to say that at last during the last two months a commencement has been made in the erection of batteries for the fortifications at the mouth of the Columbia, and the chief of ordnance has promised to send heavy ordnance for them. Ina letter dated the 5th of May last to the Governor of Oregon I learn that Brig. Gen. J. G. Totten, chief of the Engineer Department, has recommended that an iron-clad vessel be sent to this river. His words are: ‘“Itis recommended by the Engineer Department that a strong, heavily-armored steam floating battery and ram be provided for the defense of the Columbia River.” I do most respectfully urge that this recommendation be complied with. Absorbed by the stirring events of the war, few in the Atlantic States are conscious of the limitless gold fields recently found in Oregon and in Washington and Idaho Territories, covering an extent of country as large as those of California. Thus the rapid inerease in population and commerce of this region gives it now fresh claims on the care and attention of the Government. I am, with high respect,

your obedient servant,

Brigadier-General, U. 8. Volunteers, Commanding District.

Washington, D. O.
AUGUST 10-22, 1862.—Expedition from Fort Walla Walla to the Grande
Ronde Prairie, Wash. Ter., with affair (14th) at the Grande Ronde
Prairie.