James H. Carleton to R. C. Drum, May 13, 1862

Maj. R. C. DRUM, Assistant Adjutant-General, U. S. Army, San Francisco, Cal.: MAJOR: Please inform me without delay if by any treaty or convention any arrangement has ever been made, which is now in force, by which the U. S. military forces have a right to pass through any portion of the Republic of Mexico. If such an arrangement has been made, I beg you will forward to me by express an official copy ofita have been endeavoring to accumulate supplies at Fort Barrett. To this end every wagon has been at once employed as soon as it reached here from the desert. I could not afford to have but force enough there to make all safe until this was done, as the remainder could be sub sisted here cheaper in point of time and labor of trains than there. What may have appeared as a delay is really the gaining of time. I have received the general’s kind and considerate letter in relation to the effort which has been made by some persons in Los Angeles to cast a suspicion on my loyalty and my integrity. So the general pays no heed to this I think I can well afford to be abused. If such men as these who have abused me had complimented me, I should at once have cast about to-see wherein I had done some rascally act. I am, major,

very respectfully, your obedient servant,