George Wright to Lorenzo Thomas, April 18, 1862

Brig. Gen. L. THOMAS, Adjutant-General U. S. Army, Washington, D. C.: GENERAL: After a conference with Governor Nye, I have ordered a company of the Second Cavalry California Volunteers to cross the mountains via the Overland Mail Route to Carson City and then proceed to

LoL OPERATIONS ON THE PACIFIC COAST. (Cuap. LXII.

the neighborhood of Pyramid Lake for the purpose of maintaining peace between the white people and Indians in that quarter. This company is destined to form a portion of the command for the protection of the overland route. Some time since a detachment of fifty cavalry was sent from Fort Churchill south to the Mono country, and about the same time Colonel Carleton dispatched a like force from the southern district to the same point. I have no late intelligence from those commands but I have no doubt that the difficulties between the white people and the Indians will be settled. In the District of Humboldt our Indian difficulties have assumed a more serious aspect. Colonel Lippitt, the commander, is active, energetic, and zealous, and with the additional troops I am sending to him I am confident of his ultimate success. The face of the country presents almost insurmountable obstacles to rapid movement. The Indians are very numerous, but nomadic, and prowling about in small bands committing depredations at every exposed point. They will not unite in any large numbers for a fight, hence the necessity of dividing and subdividing our commands in order to accomplish anything. Should we succeed in collecting together all or most of those Indians the question then comes up, what is to be done with them? If we place them on the reservations in that country we know that they cannot be kept there securely. They will run back to their native wilds in spite of guards. The only way to dispose of them that occurs to me now is to colonize them on some of the islands near this coast. In the District of Oregon all is quiet.

Very respectfully, your obedient servant,