Unknown to R. C. Drum, June 10, 1862

Assistant Adjutant-General, U. X. Army, San Francisco, Cal. : MAJOR: I have the honor to report that, owing to the fact that all the buildings at Fort Buchanan had been destroyed, and to the fact that the site of that post being one of no military importance in the present condition of this Territory, I ordered its garrison to be withdrawn to this post. The colors were put up there, thus consecrating the ground anew to the country, and the general’s order, so far as that post and

Fort Breckinridge went, was literally fulfilled. The troops at Fort Stanford (once Fort Breckinridge) will soon be withdrawn for similar reasons, with the additional ones that its garrison, being cavalry, can find better grazing ground up the Santa Cruz River, nearer Sonora, where the horses will fare better and the troops be more cheaply and more readily supplied. I have here Shinn’s light battery, with the horses in good condition; two companies of cavalry, with the horses in good working order, and six companies of infantry. The remainder of the column is at present at Fort Stanford and Fort Barrett. It would surprise you to see how the great heat and the dry air of the desert have affected our wagons. The tires have to be cut and reset and a large amount of other repairs have to be made to keep them from going to pieces. This, with our limited means for such work, is a great task, but every preparation is making for an onward movement as soon as the rains fall to fill the natural tanks between here and the Rio Grande. Now not over one company at a time could pass a night at many of the wells, which are a march apart. The 24th of June is the average time when the rains commence. I am making every endeavor to get supplies together against that time. Meantime I shall try to straighten up matters here, so that when a man does have his throat cut, his house robbed, or his fields ravaged, he may at least have the consolation of knowing there is some law that will reach him who does the injury. I inclose herewith a paper which seems to touch this point.* I have not called it a proclamation, because, nowadays, every military commander makes one, and I had hoped to shun, in this respect, their example. Whatever name the instrument may go by, I hope the general will see nothing in it that is not just and called for by the necessities of the case. It already seems to have gratifying results. I shall send to Fort Yuma for confinement, starting them to-day, nine of the cutthroats, gamblers, and loafers who have infested this town to the great bodily fear of all good citizens. Nearly every one, I believe, has either killed his man or been engaged in helping to kill him. I shall send on a detailed account of the causes which justify their arrest and removal from the Territory. They should be held prisoners at Alcatraz until the end of the war. If discharged at Fort Yuma they will all get back here again and give trouble. I have sent to arrest Mr. Sylvester Mowry and all the people at his mine. It is possible I shall be obliged tohold Mr. Mowryas a prisoner. That he has been guilty of overt as well as covert acts of treason there is hardly a doubt. I consider his presence in this Territory as dangerous to its peace and prosperity. Inclosed are copies of certain charges against him and of the instructions for his arrest.t In a few days I will inform the general of my fortune and prospects in getting supplies from Sonora. Thus far I have been unable to get any reliable news from the Rio Grande. I am, major,

very respectfully, your obedient servant,