Today in History:

1095 Series I Volume XLVIII-II Serial 102 - Powder River Expedition Part II

Page 1095 Chapter LX. CORRESPONDENCE, ETC. -UNION.

2. Western District of Louisiana, Bvt. Major General J. P. Hawkins assigned to duty according to his brevet of major-general).

3. Eastern District of Texas, Major General Joseph A. Mower.

4. Central District of Texas, Major General D. S. Stanley.

5. Western District of Texas, Major General F. Steele.

For convenience of administration, all troops within the limits of the districts not already included in divisional organizations will be attached to divisions; or, when the number of troops is not sufficient, will be organized into separate brigades and reported to department headquarters for the action required by War Department General Orders, Numbers 251, series of 1864.

III. Attention is hereby called to the reports required by General Orders, Numbers 1., from these headquarters.

By order of Major General E. R. S. Canby:

J. SCHUYLER CROSBY,

Bvt. Lieutenant Colonel, Aide-de-Camp, and Actg. Asst. Adjt. General


HEADQUARTERS NORTHERN DIVISION OF LOUISIANA,
Shreveport, La., July 20, 1865.

Bvt. Lieutenant Colonel J. SCHUYLER CROSBY,

Acting Assistant Adjutant-General, Department of the Gulf:

COLONEL: I have the honor to report that on the 14th instant I received from Winchester Colbert, Governor of the Chickasaw Nation of Indians, treaty stipulations signed by him in behalf of said nation and also in behalf of the members of the Caddo, Comanches, and Reserve bands residing in the said nation, agreeing to return to their homes to remain in peace with the United States and the various Indian tribes who have been engaged in the service of the United States during the war. Lieutenant-Colonel Matthews, Ninety-ninth Illinois Infantry, by my direction, signed these treaty stipulations as commissioner on the part of the U. S. forces, a duplicate of which is forwarded with this report and one returned to Governor Colbert by his messenger, Lieutenant J. B. Turner, late of General Cooper's staff. I also forward herewith a letter from D. H. Cooper, late brigadier-general, to S. B. Buckner, late lieutenant-general in the Confederate service, with seven inclosures. These papers were left open and placed in my hands, with request that I would examine them before forwarding them. I desire to call attention to the statement of General Cooper in his letter to General Buckner, that it is impracticable for him to surrender the members of the Indian nations, and that it would endanger his life to attempt it. This statement is fully sustained by Lieutenant-Colonel Matthews and Adjutant Vance, who were sent by Major-General Heron to treat with the Indian tribes, and by several intelligent citizens just from the Indian Territory. According to all the information I have been able to obtain, the Cherokees, Choctaws, Muscogees, Seminoles, Chickasaws, Reserve Caddos, Osages, and Comanches, or the parts of their tribes or nations that joined the rebel cause in the present war, did so as independent powers and allies of the rebels, and they claim their right to make terms of peace with the United States regardless of any terms of surrender agreed upon and accepted by the rebel authorities. Taking this view of the case as being correct, I issued General Orders, Numbers 6, directing all officers, and soldiers of the Confederate Army serving in the Indian Territory, but


Page 1095 Chapter LX. CORRESPONDENCE, ETC. -UNION.