the service requires that you should remain in the position to which you are now assigned. I have the honor to be, very respectfully, your obedient servant, Major A. S. MILLER, E. R. S. CANBY, Assistant Adjutant General. San Francisco. Second Infantry, commanding Battalion, &c., &c, HEADQUARTERS TENTH MILITARY DEPARTMENT, MAJOR: The principal object to be attained in establishing your company in the vicinity of Sutter's Fort will be the prevention of difficulties between the Americans and Indians of that neighborhood. These difficulties, resulting from alleged outrages by the Indians, have been followed by serious aggresssions on the part of the whites, which, if not prevented by the speedy interposition of some controlling force, will result in the most serious consequences. The nature of these difficulties is more fully explained by the reports of the Indian agent in that district, copies of which are herewith furnished you. I also enclose, for your information and government, an extract from the instructions heretofore given the agent, with whom it is desired that you should communicate freely and fully. The commanding general directs that you should use all the means under your control to effect this object; and for this purpose you will consider yourself invested with full discretionary powers to act as the best interests of the service and the country may require. Unauthorized interferences with the Indians by the whites must, if possible, be prevented; and, on the other hand, the Indians, through the agent, will receive assurances of protection, if their conduct be such as to warrant it. They will be advised to remain quiet in the pursuit of their ordinary occupations, and, when aggrieved, to make their complaints through their agent to the proper authorities; that any attempt to revenge themselves for any real or fancied injury will not be permitted; and that offenders in every instance will be sought out and severely punished. If any outrage be committed, you will require the offenders to be delivered up; and if this be not done promptly, you will hold the tribe or the ranchieria to which the offenders belong responsible for their conduct. The position you may occupy for your camp should be carefully selected, with reference to health, and the advantage of wood and water, and convenience to the landing place for your supplies. The general desires that you will collect and report any information that may be useful in determining the selection of a position for a military post in the vicinity of Sutter's, or higher up on the Sacramento, indicating particularly the resources of the country, the number of Indians in that quarter, their disposition towards the Americans, &c., &c. So soon as your command is established, you will consider yourself authorized to grant furloughs to the men of your command, and any other reasonable indulgence that may in your estimation have a tendency to prevent desertions. Endeavor to secure the public property from loss by paying liberally, under the provisions of division orders No. 5, the non-commissioned officers and men in charge of it. Instructions more in detail will be furnished you in a few days. Major Miller will be instructed to furnish you with copies of division and department orders forwarded to him by the mail. Your command will be reinforced, on the arrival of the transport Mary and Adeline, by another company. The general directs that you make frequent reports of the state of your command and of affairs in your neighborhood. I have the honor to be, very respectfully, major, your obedient servant, ED. R. S. CANBY, Assistant Adjutant General. Major J. J. B. KINGSBURY, Commanding, Sc., &c., Sutter's Fort. HEADQUARTERS TENTH MILITARY DEPARTMENT, Monterey, California, May 7, 1849. MAJOR: The commanding general designs establishing a semi-monthly mail connecting the points occupied by troops in the northern military district of California with division and department headquarters. This mail will leave the most distant military posts, Sutter's Fort, Stockton, Sonoma, &c., immediately after the first and middle (say 3d and 17th) of each month, and San Francisco for this place after the arrival of the mail from Sonoma, and for the posts above after the arrival of the mail for this place. It is supposed that this mail can be more economically transported to and from Benicia, Stockton, Sutter's Fort, and Sonoma, by water than by land; and you are desired to ascertain and report for the general's information what arrangements can be made for its transportation, as above suggested, that will insure regularity and as much despatch as possible. If the means of transportation employed in forwarding troops and supplies furnish you the necessary facilities, it will of course be proper to use them in preference to any other, as the means of carrying this mail should be kept as much as possible under the control of the officers of the quartermaster's department. It is designed to offer to citizens the opportunity of communicating by this mail on all the routes where the United States mail agents have not made arrangements for the transportation of mails. Very respectfully, major, your obedient servant, Major E. H. Fitzgerald, Assistant Adjutant General. Assistant Quartermaster U. S. A., San Francisco. HEADQUARTERS TENTH MILITARY DEPARTMENT. Monterey, California, May 7, 1849. MAJOR: The intimate contact between the whites and Indians in the neighborhood of your post has given rise to many collisions between them, in which it is extremely difficult to ascertain which party was originally in the wrong. To explain the nature of the difficulties now existing, I enclose copies of reports from the Indian agent of that district, and, also, for your information and government, an extract from the instructions heretofore given him. The commanding general directs that you use the utmost exertions to preserve quiet and order in your neighborhood, and to prevent any collisions between the whites and Indians. For this purpose, you will consider yourself invested with full discretionary power to act as the interests of the service and the country may require. Unauthorized interference with the Indians by the whites must, if possible, be prevented; and, on the other hand, the Indians will receive, through their agent, assurances of protection, if their conduct be such as to merit it; they will be advised to remain quiet in the pursuit of their ordinary occupations, and, when aggrieved, to make their complaints to the proper authorities; that any attempt to revenge themselves for fancied or real injuries will not be permitted, and that the offenders will in every instance be sought out and severely punished. If any outrages are committed, you will require the offenders to be delivered up; and if this be not done promptly, you will hold the tribe or rancheria to which they belong responsible for their conduct. The Indians most likely to give trouble in your quarter reside in the neighborhood of the Merced river and of the Tulans. If the state of your command will permit it, you will make occasional detachments in that direction for the purpose of overawing these Indians, or punishing them for any outrages they may commit. Your command will be reinforced on the arrival of the Mary and Adeline by another company. Very respectfully, your obedient servant, Major A. S. MILLER, 2d Infantry. Assistant Adjutant General. CIRCULAR. HEADQUARTERS TENTH MILITARY DEPARTMENT, Monterey, California, May 10, 1849. All sums heretofore transferred from the military-contribution fund to officers of the pay, quartermaster's, and subsistence department, in California, will immediately be refunded. If the funds in the hands of any officer pertaining to the department in which he is serving should be insufficient to meet his indebtedness to the military-contribution fund, the fact will be reported promptly for the information and action of the commanding general. By order of General Riley: ED. R. S. CANBY, Assistant Adjutant General. HEADQUARTERS TENTH MILITARY DEPARTMENT, Monterey, California, May 15, 1849. CAPTAIN: The commanding general has learned, with much surprise, by a report from the commanding officer at San Diego, that the supplies ordered to that place by department instructions of February 25 and March 1 have not been received, and that the vessel sent down, after landing at San Pedro the supplies intended for the dragoon command at Los Angeles, returned to San Francisco; and he now directs you to report, for his information, why these instructions were not complied with. Very respectfully, captain, your obedient servant, E. R. S. CANBY, Captain J. L. FOLSOM, Assistant Adjutant General. Assistant Quartermaster U. S. A., San Francisco. HEADQUARTERS TENTH MILITARY DEPARTMENT, Monterey, California, May 18, 1849. MAJOR: The commanding general has been much disappointed in learning that the supplies ordered from San Francisco to San Diego, in February and March last, have not yet reached that place, and that the garrison would, after a few days, be (and probably now is) dependent upon the supplies at San Luis Rey. Believing that the supplies then ordered, if not already at San Diego, would reach that place soon after the arrival of the troops ordered there, but a limited supply was sent down with them; and the same reasons influenced Colonel Mason in directing that a small quantity of subsistence should be sent from Los Angeles to San Luis Rey. The failure of these supplies to reach San Diego, besides subjecting the troops to much inconvenience from the want of many indispensable articles, will probably embarrass the quartermaster and commissary of that post in supplying the escort for the commissioners; and the general accordingly directs that a vessel be sent immediately to San Diego with such supplies of subsistence and quartermaster's stores as may be necessary for the immediate wants of the garrison and escort. The supplies recently sent by Captain Folsom to San Pedro will be transferred to San Diego, as will also those sent from Los Angeles to San Pedro upon the abandonment of Los Angeles. The vessel to be sent down by you will be placed at the disposal of the acting quartermaster at San Diego until the transfer of this property is completed. It is the intention of the commanding general that there should be at San Diego supplies for six months for the garrison of that place and the escort of the commissioners-say 300 persons; and you are desired to ascertain from Captain Folsom what supplies were sent to San Pedro, and if any have since been sent direct to San Diego, and govern yourself in the quantity now to be sent by the information you may receive from him. I enclose, for your information, copies of the instructions to Captain Folsom, and a list of articles required by the quartermaster at San Diego. If these articles on this list have not already been sent, they will now be furnished. The wagons and carts ordered from San Francisco, and those at Los Angeles and San Luis Rey, (already ordered to San Diego,) will probably meet the wants of the service in that kind of transportation; but as the route to be travelled by the commissioners may be impracticable for wagons, the general directs that one hundred pack-saddles be sent to the quartermaster at San Diego. From five to eight hundred feet of lumber, suitable for doors, windows, &c., &c., will also be sent down. If any of the vessels sent out by the quartermaster's department for service on the Pacific coast are now at your disposal, the general directs that one of them be sent to San Diego, in preference to chartering a private vessel. Very respectfully, major, your obedient servant, Major E. H. FITZGERALD, Assistant Adjutant General. Assistant Quartermaster U. S. A., San Francisco. HEADQUARTERS TENTH MILITARY DEPARTMENT, Monterey, California, May 18, 1849. CAPTAIN: The commanding general directs that you ascertain from Captain J. L. Folsom, assistant quartermaster, what subsistence stores have recently been sent to San Pedro and San Diego, and there put up and turn over to the assistant quartermaster at San Francisco, for transportation to San Diego, such stores as will, with those already sent, make a six-months supply for that post-say for 300 men. Very respectfully, sir, your obedient servant, Captain G. P ANDREWS, Assistant Adjutant General. 3d Artillery, Depot Commissary, San Francisco. HEADQUARTERS TENTH MILITARY DEPARTMENT, Monterey, California, May 18, 1849. COMMODORE: Some twenty-five or thirty deserters from the army, recently tried at this place, have been sentenced" to be sent to the Atlantic coast of the United States, to serve out, at hard labor, in confinement, the remainder of their term of service, at such station as the War Department may direct." Believing that this sentence, if carried out, will produce an exceedingly beneficial effect in preventing many desertions hereafter, I am very anxious to see it carried into full effect, and the prisoners sent home. It has been suggested to me that an opportunity will soon offer by the return of one of the vessels of your squadron to the Atlantic; and if there is no objection to these men being sent home in a vessel-of-war, I trust that authority will be given to have them thus transported. This mode of conveyance, whilst it will be the most safe, so far as the security of the prisoners is concerned, will also be the most economical to the government. Can I ask of you the favor to allow me to hear from you on the subject, and as to whether an opportunity will soon offer of sending these |