Simon Cameron to Henry E. Maynadier, April 4, 1861

> Washington, D. C., April 4, 1861. Capt. HENRY E. MAYNADIER, Tenth Regiment of Infantry:

SIR: By the third section of the act making appropriations for the support of the Army, approved March 2, 1861, $50,000 were appropriated “for the protection of emigrants on the overland routes between the Atlantic Slope and the California and Oregon and Washington frontier,” * * * “to be expended under the direction of” this Department. It is contemplated to organize and equip from 50 to 100 men as a protective corps to be used as guards and sentries, scouting parties, and in such other ways as the best means of affording protection to emigrants may require. The Department understands that the protection contemplated in the act is protection not only against hostile Indians, but against all dangers, including starvation, losses, accidents, and the like, so far as the means provided will suffice. You are hereby detailed as the superintendent of the emigration, and will proceed without delay to organize a party of not less than fifty young, able-bodied men who are desirous of emigrating to the Pacific Slope. You will procure the arms, equipments, and horses necessary to make an efficient corps of this party, and will distribute them to the men, charging them the cost price of each article, which will be deducted from their pay in case of loss or damage through want of proper care. You will purchase a supply of provisions of the kind and quality provided by the Subsistence Department of the Army sufficient to last five months, by which time you will meet a supply forwarded from the Pacific Coast and ordered to be deposited at some point on the road. You will purchase a sufficient number of wagons and animals to transport the baggage and provisions of your party, with such tools, implements, and material as may be required to fit out a train in the most complete manner. You will procure your employés’ equipment, supplies, and transportation at those points which appear to insure the most economical and effective organization for your party, being careful to establish such arrangements that the expenditures for the completion of the work and the closing up of the expedition may not exceed the amount which will be furnished you from the appropriation. The following assistants are authorized to be hired at the rates of compensa. tion berein specified: 1 principal assistant at $200 per month; 3 assistants at $150 per month; 1 physician at $150 per month; 1 guide (if necessary) at $125 per month; 1 clerk at $75 per month; 1 wagon-master at $75 per month; 15 teamsters, herders, cooks, &c., at a rate not exceeding $30 per month. You are authorized to pay the actual traveling fare of your employés from the places at which they are engaged to the place from which the expedition will leave the Missouri River, and to furnish them with subsistence while on duty with the expedition in the field. You will be allowed the sum of $35 per month in lieu of quarters and fuel, and the usual mileage of 10 cents when traveling on duty connected with the expedition. In view of the great advantages which employment in the Protective Corps will afford to young men desirous of emigrating, it is expected that a sufficient number can be obtained for a sum not exceeding $15 per month in addition to their outfit and subsistence. Immediately after the receipt of these instruetions you will commence to procure the necessary supplies for the expedition, and will direct your assistants to enlist the required number for the Protective Corps; you will appoint a rendezvous at some point on the Missouri River, and specify a time at which all shall be at that point. You will then, by publication in the newspapers and by hand-bills widely circulated, notify persons intending to emigrate of the arrangements to be made, and invite them to avail themselves of the means of protection the Government offers them. You will take care to start early enough to insure a timely arrival on the Pacific Slope, and will endeavor to concentrate the emigrants by the time they reach the mountains, so that they can travel within easy reach of each other. If, after passing the South Pass sufficiently far, the emigrants desire to divide and take different routes, you are authorized to divide the Protective Corps, and place detachments under your assistants to accompany the parties, giving them such instructions as may be required. If the number of emigrants should require, and the funds allow, you may increase the number of the Protective Corps, employing, if possible, the emigrants themselves. You are also authorized to obtain a supply of goods for presents to Indians and compensation for their services in case you should find it necessary to employ them, but you will not expend a greater sum than $300 for this purpose. Having thus indicated generally the views of the Department, the execution and the arrangement of many of the details are left to your judgment, admonishing you that this is an exercise of the liberality and protection of the Government, which will be materially enhanced by an economical use of the means it has provided. After the emigrants have reached the settled parts of the Pacific Coast you will disband the Protective Corps, and dispose of the property and material on the best terms you can obtain. You will then proceed to San Francisco, Cal., and thence by the Panama steamer to New York and this city, where you will close your accounts and report to this Department the material incidents and results of the expedition. The sum of $35,000 will be placed to your credit with the assistant treasurers of the United States, as follows:

IEC ANC A A A $5, 000 IE cea PA A O SOS 20, 000 oSA EOAR TO NAT OAN E aN CISC Ose scic osa ole esla els Secas 10,

You are hereby authorized to obtain from the quartermaster, commissary, ordnance officer, or surgeon at any military post such public stores, including medicines, as they may be able to furnish, paying for them the cost price and transportation to the place where you receive them. You will report direct to the Adjutant-General and keep [him] informed by every opportunity of the progress of the expedition. You will render your accounts quarterly to the Adjutant-General according to the forms specified in the General Regulations of the Army.

Very respectfully, your obedient servant,