REPORT FROM THE WAR DEPARTMENT. WAR DEPARTMENT, Washington City, May 14, 1879. SIR: I have the honor to return, with the papers which accompanied it, under your reference of this date, Senate resolution of May 7, 1879, calling for information in regard to an alleged occupation of a portion of the Indian Territory by white settlers, and the action taken to prevent same, and to transmit copy of correspondence on the subject as far as of record in this department. Very respectfully, your obedient servant, The PRESIDENT. GEO. W. MCCRARY, [Telegram.] To General P. H. SHERIDAN, HEADQUARTERS OF THE ARMY, Commanding Division, Chicago, Ill.: Referring to the President's proclamation of April 26, 1879, this day mailed you, forbidding trespass by immigrants on the Indian Territory, you may instruct the commanding general, Department of the Missouri, to use all his available troops to execute the terms of that proclamation, using force only on the requisition of and, when practicable, under the personal supervision of the officers of the Indian Bureau or of the sev eral agents for the Indian tribes whose reservations lay within the Indian Territory, pursuant to sections 2147, 2149, and 2150 of the Revised Statutes. To the GENERAL OF THE ARMY: W. T. SHERMAN, General. WAR DEPARTMENT, Washington City, May 2, 1879. The President directs that you issue such further orders as may seem proper to enable the military authorities in the vicinity of the Indian Territory to aid the authorities of the Interior Department in carrying out his recent proclamation and in removing intruders from the Indian country. The whole of the Indian Territory will be regarded and treated as "Indian country" within the meaning of section 2147 of the Revised Statutes. I am advised by the Secretary of the Interior that immigrants are moving into the Territory by way of Coffeyville, Kans., and of the trail known as the Old Whiskey trail to the Sac and Fox Agency; also by way of Arkansas City and Wichita, Kans.; also by the Missouri, Kansas and Texas Railroad. It is desirable to station troops so as to intercept and turn back persons entering the Territory by either of these routes. The President also expresses the opinion that the execution of your orders upon this subject should be intrusted to some well-known officer of considerable rank, who should go upon the ground and direct operations, believing as he does that the presence of such an officer would alone be of great importance and render unnecessary the use of force. GEO. W. MCCRARY, [Telegram.] Secretary of War. HEADQUARTERS ARMY OF THE UNITED STATES, General P. H. SHERIDAN, Washington, D. C., May 2, 1879. Commanding Military Division, Chicago, Ill.: Orders and instructions will be mailed you to-night to use force and persuasion to prevent intrusion by emigrants on the Indian Territory south of Kansas. Order at once small detachments to Coffeyville, Wichita, and Arkansas City, with some active good officer, such as Charles H. Smith or Dodge, to command the whole, and instruct all commanding officers in the Indian Territory to use force on the requisition of the Indian agents to expel parties who attempt to make settlements south of the Kansas line. W. T. SHERMAN, General. HEADQUARTERS ARMY OF THE UNITED STATES, General P. H. SHERIDAN, Commanding Military Division, Chicago, Ill.: GENERAL: I have this moment, 4.15 p. m., received from the Hon. Secretary of War a letter of this date, copy of which is herewith inclosed, which I construe to be the result of a conference in cabinet to-day. I prefer to send it entire by mail rather than by telegraph, because of the nature of the subject, and because I understand the President attaches much importance to it. The movement to settle on the Indian Territory must be resisted by all the power of the govern ment, civil and military, because the faith of the nation is pledged that this Territory shall be reserved to the Indians removed to that country in 1838, and to the others located there by subsequent treaties, all of which are construed as obligatory in law as well as honor. The absence of Generals Pope and Davis at this instant of time may make it awkward for you to fulfil the orders of the War Department, but I advise you to order to the points indicated by the Hon. Secretary of War small detachments of troops to encamp near the southern border of Kansas, to notify all emigrants who pass south into the Indian Territory that they are acting in violation of law, and that they will most undoubtedly be ejected by force if they persist. Some judicious officer, say, Col. C. H. Smith, Nineteenth Infantry, or Lieut. Col. R. I. Dodge, of the Twenty-third, with two or three young officers, mounted, should be posted, say, at Coffeyville, with orders to patrol the frontier to caution all emigrants that any attempt to enter and make a settlement south of Kansas will result in a violent expulsion. Then instruct the commanding officers at Forts Gibson, Sill, Reno, Supply, Elliott, and the cantonment recently established on the Canadian, that, on the written request of any Indian agent, they will send a detachment of troops to remove beyond the border any person who at tempts to make a settlement in the Indian Territory. Let these orders be executed firmly, with due consideration to the misguided emigrants, but in such a manner as to carry conviction that the government is in earnest. I am sure these emigrants have been deceived by some parties having sinister motives, and that as soon as they are convinced that the government is bound to protect this Territory against trespass, they will move to the nearest vacant lands in Kansas or Texas which are open to entry, or are subject to the homestead laws. As soon as Generals Pope and Davis return to their posts of duty, the execution of these orders will properly devolve on them. Please report your action as early as possible. I am, with respect, yours, truly, W. T. SHERMAN, General. Orders positive to expel if across the border. Notify this side. W. T. S. [Telegram.] CHICAGO, ILL., May 3, 1879. To General W. T. SHERMAN: Your dispatch of yesterday received. The troops will be sent to the points named and put under good officers, and every effort will be made to comply with the instructions of the government on the subject. P. H. SHERIDAN, Lieutenant-General. [Telegram.] WASHINGTON, D. C., May 3, 1879. [FROM DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE.] To Hon. GEO. W. MCCRARY, Secretary of War: Letter from Hallowell, Kansas, states that numbers in small parties have already entered Indian country; that a general advance is expected May 7. Managers of movement assert proclamation will not be heeded and that troops cannot stop the movement or remove after location. Leaders and press insist this is another Black Hills affair, and govern ment will discover it is powerless and Congress will hasten to open the lands for settlement. Hallowell thinks movement is widespread, prep aration extending to entire southern tier counties, and to stop it will require rigid measures. CHAS. DEVENS, Attorney-General. |