Siletz Indian Agency, December 24, 1861 to Schmidt, March 2, 1862

SPECIAL ORDERS, ) HDQRS. DIST. OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA,
March 2, 1862.
ING:

19 f Los Angeles, Cal., March 2, 1862.

IV. Lieutenant-Colonel Dobbins, Fifth Infantry California Volunteers, will detach from his battalion Company E, Fifth Infantry California Volunteers, and order it to report to Major Coult, of that regiment.

V. Company E, Fifth Infantry California Volunteers, will be prepared immediately for active field service. All articles not absolutely required by the men will be carefully packed and sent to Camp Drum, near New San Pedro, Cal., for storage.

By order of Colonel Carleton:

BEN. ©. CUTLER, First Lieut., First Infty. California Vols., Actg. Asst. Adjt. Gen.

Fort Hoskins, Oreg., March 3, 1862.

Fort Vancouver, Wash. Ter.:

COLONEL: In conformity to instructions received from the headquarters District of Oregon of February 15, 1862, I will as soon as the roads admit re-enforce the command at the block-house to twenty-six men, which is all the available force that I can spare of my company, retaining the detachment from Yamhill at this post per former instruetions. Inclosed please find a return of the troops at this place, blockhouse, and Fort Umpqua, Oreg. This will better enable you to dispose of the several commands as to you may seem best. The return exhibits the distribution after I have re-enforced the block-house, the three extra men of my command at Fort Umpqua, Oreg., one corporal (in charge of) and two teamsters, who left with the commandant, Lieutenant Watson, intending to return with the command of Lieutenant Rives. You will perceive that of the number of privates a large number is required for extra and daily duty, as much so as if there were 100 men at this post. The intensely severe and inclement weather has deterred me as yet from again visiting the reservation. I learn, however, that at present the Indians are rather quiet. The agent informs me that there is a large number of arms in their hands; also from him and through other reliable sources I am told that in some of their wigwams there are as much as eight or ten shooting irons of all descriptions, that their quivers are full of new arrows, and that they intend to make a break early in the summer, if not before. This they all admit, and the agent and farmers on the reservation have told me of it. To disarm those Indians and prevent their escape will require a larger command than is available at present without strategy is used. I would therefore recommend that a subaltern and a detachment of about forty men be kept at the block-house, Oregon, until such times as the agent can procure them, either by planting or purchasing, the necessary subsistence required for their use. About sixty men would be required at this post, as all the necessary supplies for their use must be packed from this post, as there is no wagon road from here to the Siletz blockhouse. This post is not situated in the right place. The supposition that it guards the only pass to or from the reservation is incorrect, There are at least ten passes. If this post was intended to guard the reservation 16 is a fallacy, and should be moved for more reasons than one, and in this connection permit me to inclose you a letter received from the Indian agent in that respect after my last visit to the reservation. The distance, thirty-five miles, renders it inadequate to promptly render the assistance required in case of a sudden outbreak, as was the case last December. There is also a ground rent of $300 per year paid for this site. Again, it is environed by polluting tipplers, which occasions a great deal of trouble to the men at the post. There they would be free from that, as no intoxicating drinks could come near them on the reservation. This movement, however, could not be effected this coming year, but a start could be made toward it, for to repair this post properly would cost nearly as much as the building of a new one at that place. The water pipes have to be taken up and thoroughly repaired. The stable, being built on the river-bank, must be removed, as it has several times, even to-day, been endangered by the freshets. The foundations of the public buildings are fast going to decay, especially the store-house and men’s quarters. Nor can the hospital be made comfortable unless a new one is built. In a former communication you mentioned about turning the ringleaders of the Indians over to the civil law. Iam at a loss to know how they can be punished by that law. Will you please enlighten me on that subject, as I have no U.S. laws for my guidance? I had supposed that they might be sent to the Presidio, as was Old John. To confine them here and feed them is all that they wish, and to prevent that I prefer to chastise them and let them go, as I did three who passed out to the settlements without a pass. I have directed Lieutenant Campbell to proceed to Vancouver with Sergeant Miltenberger, whom I would respectfully recommend to the clemency of the colonel commanding the district, as he has conducted himself remarkably well since his confinement on the 8th of December, 1861. In this recommendation I am also joined by the lieutenant aforesaid.

Very respectfully, your obedient servant,

Captain, Second Infantry California Volunteers, Commanding Post.
[Inclosure.]
SILETZ INDIAN AGENCY, December 24, 1861.
Captain SCHMIDT,
Commanding Fort Hoskins:
SIR: I avail myself of a few leisure moments to again address you
on such points as I deem of essential interest to the welfare and peace
of this reservation. But before doing so permit me to thank you sincerely for the promptness with which you rushed to my assistance when