sumed command of the former Department of Kansas I
found all the important Indian tribes on the plains in open hostility
against us. Whether it was the fault of the white man or the Indian,
the fact was patent. They were holding the entire overland route from
Julesburg to Junction Station, had destroyed the telegraph-lines,
captured trains, burned ranches, and murdered men, women, and children
indiscriminately. I soon stopped these proceedings, opened our broken
lines of communication; repaired, so far as possible, the injury done;
pushed troops out there, and then tried to effect a settlement with
the Indians. On the southern route I found a similar state of affairs
existing. The Indians were on the warpath, and I at once started
expeditions against them, learning of which Colonel Leavenworth,
Indian Agent, informed me that he could make peace with them; that we
were at fault, etc. I stopped my expeditions on the southern route to
give him an opportunity to accomplish this object. He started for
their camps; they robbed him, stole his mules, and he hardly escaped
with his scalp; and on his return stated that it was useless to
attempt to make peace with them. I then, in accordance with the orders
of the Secretary of War, started for the Indians again, and had just
got my forces under way when the committee, of which Senator Doolittle
is a member, reached Fort Larned, and after an interview with Colonel
Leavenworth, gave orders for the expeditionary movements to stop. The
grounds for this action the Senator gives in his letter. I was then
aware that the Indians were moving north to attack that line, and was
moving two columns in concert with General Ford to intercept and
punish them; and I at that time telegraphed that the tribes spoken of
by Senator Doolittle were on their way north to attack our trains.
They had then driven out all traders, made a treaty with the southern
Indians and Texans, and sent me word that they wanted no peace.

Within ten days from the time Senator Doolittle and his party left
Fort Larned, and before I had time to countermand their orders and get
my troops disposed, the Indians attacked the posts and trains all
along the line, running off stock, capturing trains, etc., murdering
men, and showing conclusively that they were determined on war at all
hazards. Our ov