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Show REPORT OF THE BOARD OF INDIAN COMMISSIONERS. 37 On receipt of the above dispatch, on my arrival at Lawrence, Kansas, I telegraphed to you as follows : " LAWRENCE, July 30, 1871. " Agreeably to powers conferred upon me by the President, and communicated in your instructions of 21st instant and to- day's supplementary order of War Department of this date to order of 18th instant, I have selected Camp Grant, in Arizona Territory, as a reservation on the west, where the Apache Indians are to be protected and fed, and beg that the War Department be earnestly requested to retain Lieutenant Whit-man in charge, and that he be instructed to send out Indian runners to notify all peaceably disposed Apaches to come in and find asylum there, and the order be tele-graphed to Department of th Pacific to forward promptly to Arizona. " Please telegraph your action to me at Santa 6. My plan is to have this reserva-tion at Camp Grant on western border, and another which I will select in New Mexico, on eastern border of Apache, conntry, when I get there, and bring in, feed, and protect all Apaches who wish to be at peace. The expenses to be paid from the special appro-priation for the Indian Department." On my arrival at Santa F6 I received a dispatch from the Secretary of the Interior . as follows, dated August 1, 1871 : " Your telegrams received. War Department requested to act as you desire. " C. DELANO, Secretary." And from the War Department this reply : " Instructions telegraphed for retention of Lieutenant Whitman and employment of runners as requested. " E. D. TOWNSEND, " Adjutant General." , APACHE INDIANS IN NEW MEXICO. Nathaniel Pope, the superintendent of Indian affairs for New Mexico, reports that " the Southern Apache Indians continue to come in to Canada Alamosa. There are now over twelve hundred at that place * the majority well behaved and peaceable. Beef and corn only for food being issued to them, with a small amount of calico, manta, and a few shirts to cover the extremely naked." In so large a number it would be strange if there were not some dishonest ones, and therefore you will not be sur-prised to hear that several thefts of oxen and horses were traced to Indians on this reservation. They were promptly detected, however, by the Indian chiefs, who at once reported them to the agent, O. F. Piper, who delivered up the stolen stock to their re-spective owners. ( See inclosed paper marked A &, No. 7.) WHITES THREATENING TO MASSACRE APACHES ON RESERVATION. On the 30th of July, Hon. B. Hudson, probate judge of Grant County, New Mexico, inclosed to Colonel Pope the following series of resolutions passed by the citizens at a public meeting at Rio Mimbres, New Mexico, 19th July, 1871: " Resolved, That the people of Grant County, New Mexico, organize themselves into a posse and follow their stock to wherever it may be, and take it by force wherever found, even if it be at the sacrifice of every Indian man, women, and child, in the tribe. " Jtesolved, That if opposed by Indians or their accomplices, be they Indian agents, Indian traders, or Army officers, let them be looked upon as our worst enemies and the common enemies of New Mexico, and be dealt with accordingly." ( Appendix A &, No. 8.) And the Hon. B. Hudson wrote as follows : " What we want to know is, whether our stock can be recovered or not from Indians on your reservation, when fully proved and identified, or if we are to be forever at the mercy of these thieving murderous Apaches, who have a l house of refuge ' at Alamosa ; if so, the sooner we know it the better, because the citizens of this county are deter-mined to put a stop to it, and if they carry out their programme the Camp Grant mas-sacre will be thrown entirely in the shade, and Alamosa will rank next to Sand Creek" ( See accompanying document A 6, No. 7.) Superintendent Pope ( see his letter marked A &, No. 9) has asked that troops be placed at Canada Alamosa, and as I hope to visit the Indians there early next week, if I find the place suitable, I will designate it as a reservation, and call upon the military to protect it' agreeably to your instructions of the 21st ultimo, and the orders of the War Department of the 18th ultimo. V. C. * As we go to press there are nineteen hundred Indians at Canada Alamosa. |
