W. Scott Ketchum to Joseph H. Whittlesey, February 9, 1861
Capt. JOSEPH H. WHITTLESEY, First Dragoons :
SIR: In addition to the requirements of the order herewith,* you will co-operate with any troops sent from Fort Walla Walla on the same service, and if necessary communicate with the commanding ofticer at Fort Walla Walla and these headquarters by means of expresses. You will take every precaution to guard against surprise or the loss of the property in your charge, and endeavor to accomplish the object for which you are dispatched, thoroughly and as speedily as practicable. The accompanying letter from Mr. C. M. Grover will make known to you where the depredations were committed and the probable location of the Indian depredators.+ After completing your search for the hostile Indians on the north side of the Columbia River, it will be well to cross the river and scout in the vicinity of the settlements on Willow and Butter Creeks before returning to this post. I understand that the Indian agent has applied to the commanding officer at Fort Walla Walla to send troops to the Umatilla country. The depredators are said to be renegades from the Snake, Yakima, Cayuse, Columbia River, and Walla Walla Indians, who acknowledge no chief and claim the entire country as their own.
Respectfully, your obedient servant,
Major Fourth Infantry, Commanding Post.
Statement of Caleb M. Grover, in relation to Indian depredations.
On Friday morning, the 1st February, 1861, a party of about twenty
attempted to enter the house of a settler by the name of Reeder, which
was then oceupied by Mrs. Reeder and her children, four or five in number. Mrs. Reeder barricaded the door, and in spite of their threats
and efforts prevented their entrance. The Indians then drove off the