Today in History:

924 Series I Volume L-I Serial 105 - Pacific Part I

Page 924 Chapter LXII. OPERATIONS ON THE PACIFIC COAST.


HEADQUARTERS HUMBOLDT MILITARY DISTRICT,
Fort Humboldt, March 13, 1862.

Captain D. B. AKEY,

Commanding Co. E, Second Cavalry California Vols., Fort Humboldt:

CAPTAIN: The design of Special Orders, Numbers 33, is to charge you with the protection of the district of country therein defined, although your military operations will be habitually restricted within the limits defined. There will be no objection to your crossing either of the streams or trails mentioned in any case where you may have strong reasons to believe that some important purpose will be subserved by so doing. In order to accomplish the object in view you will send in the field every fifteen days a detachment of twenty, or as many men as can be safely spared in your judgment from the service of the post, under a commissioned officer, or when this is impossible under a non-commissioned of the highest trustworthiness, for the purpose of capturing and bringing in to Fort Humboldt all the Indians that can be found, whether men, women, or children, the detachments relieving each other on the 1st and 15th of every month. For these expeditions, whenever necessary, a reliable guide will be furnished by the officer in charge of the quartermaster's department at Fort Humboldt. The purpose for which the military force in the district is to be employed is not to make war upon the Indians nor to punish them for any murders or depredations hitherto committed, but to bring them in and place them permanently on some reservation where they can be protected from all outrage from hostile whites. The end in view, therefore, in all your expeditions will be a friendly one. You will avail yourself of every opportunity to impress this truth upon all the Indians with whom you can communicate, directly or indirectly, and to assure them that from the moment they surrender themselves at your post or any other in the district they will have entire protection for themselves and their families. That if they do not come in voluntarily they will be brought in by force, and that in the meantime any outrage or depredation that may hereafter be committed on the whites by the Indians will be promptly and severely punished. The officer in charge of each expedition will have strict orders to effect the capture of such Indians as he may find without bloodshed whenever it is possible to do so. You will make and publish an order without delay prohibiting any man of your command from killing or wounding an Indian unless in self defense, in action, or by orders of a superior officer. For any disobedience to this order you will cause the offender to be immediately arrested and brought for trial before a court-martial, which has power in such case to sentence the guilty man to death. The guides employed must be made to understand that under the Articles of War they will be subject to this order equally with your own men, and will be equally amenable to trial by a court-martial. For any depredation upon live stock or any other private property by men of your command you will immediately bring the offender before a garrison court for trial and punishment. From the moment any Indians are captured or give themselves up, you will take measures for their protection from outrage from any quarter whatever, and you will send them as soon as practible to Fort Humboldt under an escort strong enough to insure their complete protection on the way. You will discourage by all means in your power the hunting of Indians by parties of whites in the district, especially under your command, and will not permit any such parties or any individual citizens to accompany an expedition sent from your post under any pretext whatsoever. Within five days after the


Page 924 Chapter LXII. OPERATIONS ON THE PACIFIC COAST.