J. McAllister to George Wright, June 11, 1861

No. 9. Fort Vancouver, Wash. Ter., June 11, 1861.

I. Fort Cascades will be abandoned forthwith, and the public property of every description turned over to the proper departments at Fort Vancouver. Major Babbitt and Lieutenant Mason will send their agents to the Cascades by the steamer to-morrow to receive the quartermaster’s and commissary property trom Captain Wallen. Captain Wallen after turning over his public property will proceed with the greatest dispatch and embark his company on the steamer Cortez, now at Portland, and comply with his previous orders.

II. Company I, Ninth Infantry, under orders for Fort Walla Walla, will continue its march to Fort Dalles, descending the Columbia River by water. Company E, Ninth Infantry, under orders for Fort Dalles, will continue its march without delay to Fort Vancouver, where its commander will receive further orders.

III. Captain Dent, Ninth Infantry, with his company (B), under orders for Fort Cascades, will continue his march to Fort Hoskins and relieve Captain Augur, Fourth Infantry, in command of that post. Captain Augur will then proceed without delay with his company to Portland and embark on the first steamer for San Francisco, where he will report to the department commander.

IV. Fort Yamhill will be abandoned. The chiefs of the staff departments at these headquarters will take immediate measures to receive and secure the public property. Captain Russell, Fourth Infantry, with his company (K) will move promptly to Portland, and embark on the first steamer for San Francisco, where he will report to the department commander.

V. Camp Pickett, on San Juan Island, and Fort Townsend will be abandoned and the public property sent to Fort Steilacoom. Captain Pickett, with Company D, Ninth Infantry, and Captain Hunt, with Company ©, Fourth Infantry, will embark on the first steamer for San Francisco. Major Ketchum, Fourth Infantry, will proceed with this command, and on his arrival at San Francisco report to the department commander.

VI. Camp Chehalis will be abandoned. The public property that cannot be removed, together with the buildings, will be placed in charge of a responsible agent. The company at Camp Chehalis (A, Fourth Infantry), will then move promptly to the mouth of the Columbia River and embark on the first steamer for San Francisco, where the commander will report to the department commander.

VIL. The assistant quartermaster at Fort Steilacoom will employ the Massachusetts in removing the public property from the posts abanonea on the sound, and place the buildings in charge of responsible agents.

VII. The officers of the medical department at Forts Yamhill, Cascades, and Townsend, and Camps Pickett and Chehalis, will accompany their respective commands.

IX. The officers of the quartermaster’s department will furnish the necessary transportation to insure a prompt execution of the movements herein ordered.

By order of Colonel Wright:

, – , JNO. S. MASON, First Lieut., Third Artillery, Acting Assistant Adjutant-General,

Cuar. LXII.) = CORRESPONDENCE—UNION AND CONFEDERATE. 518

BENICIA ARSENAL, June 12, 1861. Maj. D. C. BUELL, U. S. Army, Asst. Adjt. Gen., Hdqrs. Dept. of the Pacific, San Francisco : SIR: Please find below some information in reference to the arms and accouterments for issue to volunteers for the general commanding the department. We have on hand the following: 940 rifled muskets, caliber .58, directed to be issued to militia; 4,000 altered arms, caliber .69, with Maynard’s primers, and about 4,000 sets of infantry accouterments. The above is the amount we have at the arsenal without counting the arms and accouterments at Alcatraz Island. I am, sir,

very respectfully, your obedient servant,