HEADQUARTERS EIGHTH DEPARTMENT,
San Antonio, September 27, 1849.

GENERAL: I have great satisfaction in forwarding the enclosed communication from Brevet Captain Steele, second dragoons, senior officer at Fredericksburg in the temporary absence of Lieutenant Colonel Faunt

lerov.

I shall reciprocate fully this apparent friendly disposition of the Comanches, and sincerely hope that the dangers of collision have passed away. I am at the same time convinced that the very serious talks which have been sent them, and knowing our state of preparation, added to the severe chastisement which they have lately received, in two instances, have produced their proper results.

I have the honor to be, very respectfully, your obedient servant,
GEO. M. BROOKE,

Brevet Major General R. JONES,

Adjutant General.

Brevet Major General.

CAMP, NEAR FREDERICKSBURG, TEXAS,
September 22, 1849.

MAJOR: I have the honor to report that I have to-day received a visit from two Comanche chiefs, Pro-pro-whop, or Buffalo-hump, and Rey-turnsee, who are direct from the camp, on the Clear Fork of the Brazos, for the purpose of communicating the result of a council lately held by the whole Comanche nation, to elect a successor to Mo-per-cho-co, late head chief, he having died since our last intelligence from the camp on the Brazos.

The election resulted in the choice of Buffalo-hump, who, upon assuming the dignity, called upon all the chiefs and warriors to speak their minds freely with regard to their relations with the whites.

The council lasted ten days, when it was finally determined that they would be great fools to war with the United States. They had been to war with Texas when Texas was weak, and they had gained nothing by it; and now that Texas was joined to the United States, a war would lead to the destruction of their nation.

Buffalo-hump says, that although he may not be able to stop at once small thieving parties, he is determined to preserve peace, and he hopes that these small parties will not be considered by the whites as a cause of

war.

He also wishes me to say, that in event of a council, it is the wish of the Indians that it be held at the Llano, or at this place.

I have the honor to be, with the highest respect, your obedient servant,

Major GEO. DEAS,

WM. STEELE,

Brevet Captain, commanding at Fredericksburg.

Assistant Adjutant General, San Antonio, Texas.

HEADQUARTERS EIGHTH DEPARTMENT,

San Antonio, Texas, October 2, 1849. GENERAL: I have the honor to forward De Cordova's map of Texas, showing you the chain of posts at present established, which I presume will remain, with possibly some slight changes, dependent on more suitable locations in the immediate vicinity, as the health of the troops, materials for building, fuel and water, and subsistence and forage, may be better and more abundant. All those posts are now occupied by two companies each, and one of them mounted, with the exception of Eagle Pass and Fort Brown, where there are four companies at the former and three at the latter, all of the first infantry, and at each one company mounted. Eagle Pass and Fredericksburg, I think you will observe, by their positions on the map, are the most commanding on the frontier. Eagle Pass should be the headquarters of the first infantry, and Fredericksburg will receive an additional company, as soon as I am able to supply them. In the event of any large and sudden incursion of the Indians, I can concentrate, at a very short notice, six mounted companies at any designated point, which will probably be a force sufficiently strong to drive back and punish any party of Indians who might dare such an outbreak. All these posts will be held secure by the infantry companies left. This line of posts is, I believe, as good a one as can be had for some years to come, and is rather in advance of the settlements, excepting in the case of Fredericksburg, where a German village, on the Llano, has been located. If any other line of frontier is advanced, the population will follow and go beyond it.

In looking at this subject, if we move further on, what lands are to be left for the poor Indian, from whom Texas has taken every foot, as she has done from the Catholic church? As a humane and just people, are we to deprive the aboriginal proprietors of their whole country, who have not as yet lost it either by conquest or purchase?

As soon as I shall be able to clear the country of the savages, thieves and murderers who now infest it from Goliad to the Rio Grande, along the coast on the Nueces and Frio Rivers, up to Eagle Pass and Leona, I request to be authorized to discharge the three companies of mounted rangers, called out by my requisition on the governor of this State of the eleventh of August last.

They are now operating very efficiently; and, for the kind of troops, are most orderly and obedient. The headquarters of each of these companies is marked on the map, and you will perceive the district of country they are intended to cover.

In ten days from this the train of subsistence, intended in part to resupply and provision, until the first of June next, the six companies of the third infantry at El Paso under escort of two mounted companies, one taken from this post and the other from Eagle Pass, will take its departure.

As I feel very little apprehension of Indian disturbances since the report of Brevet Captain W. Steele, second dragoons, which has been forwarded to your headquarters by the last mail, I have directed Lieutenant W. H. C. Whiting, corps of engineers, to commence a military reconnoissance of the whole frontier, and from whom a most interesting and important report may be expected.

Lieutenant N. Michler, topographical engineers, under instructions of

Colonel Abert, his chief, is now engaged in a survey between the south branch of the Red river and the Pecos.

Brevet Lieutenant Colonel Johnston, topographical engineers, has not yet returned from El Paso Del Norte, and will not probably arrive here before the first of next month.

I am, very respectfully, your most obedient servant,

Major General W. SCOTT,

GEO. M. BROOKE,
Brevet Major General.

Commanding in chief, West Point, New York.

No. 5.

SURVEYS WEST OF THE MISSISSIPPI.

WAR DEPARTMENT, WASHINGTON, July 11, 1849.

SIR: An appropriation of fifty thousand dollars having been made at the last session of Congress, to defray the expenses of surveys of routes from the valley of the Mississippi to the Pacific ocean, you will take the proper steps to carry out the object contemplated by Congress. For the present, operations will be confined principally to the country between the Mississippi and the Rio Grande, with a view of ascertaining the most practicable route for a railway or wagon road; and it is proposed to start from some point on the Mississippi river, and make examinations of routes not hitherto explored.

Between St. Louis and Santa Fe, it is understood, reconnoissances have already been made. Between La Vaca, on the Gulf of Mexico, and El Paso, a route has recently been explored by Lieutenant Whiting of the engineers, who has made a report thereon. It is suggested that, in the surveys now to be made, the starting point shall be somewhere on the Mississippi, between St. Louis and Natchez; and from an examination of the map of the country, it has occurred to the department that a practicable route would be found commencing at or near Vicksburg, and pursuing a westerly course, and after crossing the Red river, following on the plains, as nearly as the nature of the country will admit, the south or right bank of that river up to its sources, through the pass at Mount Guadalupe; thence following the valley of the Puerco in a southerly direction, and, crossing that river, the Rio Grande can be reached at or near El Paso through a pass in the Guadalupe mountains. Or from Mount Guadalupe, following the valley of the Puerco in a northerly direction, the Rio Grande may be reached through passes north or south of Mount de Caballas.

The Red river, west of its great bend or curve, presents a remarkable feature that whilst it has almost a due westward course, nearly all the rivers which flow into the Gulf of Mexico through the southern portion of Texas have their sources near its right bank. Indeed, it has been represented that the ridge is so narrow, that in many places the waters of the Trinity, Brazos, and Colorado are but a few paces from those of the Red river. Assuming that the course of the latter is correctly delineated, its southern margin must be admirably adapted for a road, as combining two necessary qualities-abundance of water and shortest distance.

Another route is suggested for examination, which should begin opposite Memphis or Cairo, or at St. Louis, and proceed toward the valley of the Arkansas river, and thence up the same to the confluence of the Canadian rivers. Pursue the course of one of them, till the ridge is reached which divides its waters from those of the Puerco. This point being attained, it is believed that the valley of the Rio Grande may be thence reached by the route heretofore indicated.

The surveys west of the Rio Grande will be confined to a space between