PINE BLUFF, ARK., May 9, 1865.

Brevet Major-General SALOMON:

I sent the troops from Little Rock below the mouth of Bayou Meto, with instructions to scout the country between that stream and White River. At the same time I had a cavalry command from this post, 170 men, cross the Arkansas with orders to scout the country between the Arkansas and Bayou Meto. I think this is the best disposition that could be made and hope it will be productive of good results.

POWELL CLAYTON,

Brigadier-General, Commanding.

HEADQUARTERS MILITARY DIVISION OF THE MISSOURI,
Saint Louis, May 9, 1865.

Lieutenant-General GRANT,

General-in-Chief:

Your telegram concerning location of friendly Sioux at Red Wing received and fully answered by mail to-day.

JOHN POPE,

Major-General.

HEADQUARTERS MILITARY DIVISION OF THE MISSOURI,
Saint Louis, Mo., May 9, 1865.

Lieutenant General U. S. GRANT,

General-in-Chief, U. S. Army:

GENERAL: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt this morning of your telegram of yesterday's date, asking me to state my objections to friendly Sioux Indians being located at Red Wing. The dreadful massacres of 1862 and the continued hostility of the great mass of the Sioux bands have so exasperated the people of Minnesota that I do not believe that the life of any Indian would be safe from the frontier settlers if he came within their reach. The attempt to bring back to their reservations and settle immediately in contact with the frontier settlements of Minnesota any Sioux Indians whatever would, I am certain, create the profoundest anxiety and alarm, and would certainly lead to hostile acts against the Indians, which, being resented and revenged, would very soon plunge us again into an Indian war, if, indeed, such a war were not again preceded by extensive massacres. It is impossible for Indians and white men to live in contact on the frontier without constant danger of hostilities. Surely the history of our Indian affairs for the last twenty-five years has made this fact very plain. The massacres of 1862 and the war with Indians since have involved nearly the entire Sioux Nation. By these acts they have themselves voluntarily forfeited all claims under former treaties, and we have it now in our power to manage matters so that there will be comparatively little danger of such massacres as have hitherto marked our Indian relations. I have established a line of military posts (small posts mostly) beginning at Fort Abercrombie on the east and extending entirely around the frontier settlements of Minnesota to Spirit Lake and thence across the Missouri River at Fort Pierre. This line of posts is far outside of the extreme frontier settlements. I have invited all friendly Sioux to locate in the vicinity of any of these posts, to occupy as much land as they please, and have furnished them with the means to put in crops. No white man, except religious instructors or military officers, is permitted to go among