Arizona miner., 1868-01-25

of this fact is part of your months iniorna- tion, and yet you say, " that this months experience confirms you in your viewsw
 The terms of your order implied doubt in your own mind as to whether some of the ln- dians on whom you declared war were friend lv or hostile some of them, as you were informed in the instructions from Department Head Quarters, to which you refer, "had been for a long time living quietly on the bottom lands along the Colorado River, in the vicinity of Camp Mohave, raising food for themselves, and for sale procuring wood for the steamers plying on the river transporting the supplies for the Government, and the miners and other settlers in the Territory" You have declared war on these and others, (except when acting in conjunction with the troops) unless they confined themselves to the Indian Reservation, which you were told, | it is believed, was, for want of funds, not at | the time in a condition to maintain them. | You were, therefore, directed to reconsider and modify your orders, and not war Ion | Indians not in hostility with the settlers; and further, that instead of opposing, as you | had done. the acts of another branch of the | Government to whom the law had intrusted l the care of the friendly Indians, you were di- | rectud to aid the Indian Department, as far as possible. in cooperating with its agents" | But you were nowhere told to declare any | tribe or tribes of Indians as being either at peace or at war, only that you were not to make war on those who were friendly You were nowhere instructed as to what acts ho,td be considered hostile; but only that ! leaving the reservation to hunt on permit from the Indian Agent, and cutting wood for the steamboats, and cultiyatng land on the Colorado River bottom, should not b,
 .I,. ,f In dians in planning depredations on the proper ty of the settlers is all true, and has not been questioned. You were simply informed that, whilst it was much to be regretted that In dians should steal the Department Com mander was not dispOscd,n because some of
 them did, to authorize an indscrminatc
 warfare on whole tribes, on a suspicion mere ly that some 0! their members, or some oi another tribe, perhaps, have committed theft You refer at some length to the difference
 between "even the white citizens of Arizona and the Indians ;' that the one cultiyates
 the soil, makes Improvements, subsIsts upon
 it's products, and has a surplus Co coutrihutc
 to the general wealth builds schoolhous
 churches, and introduces civilization and re
 fuemcnt; the other ranges over miles of ter
 ritory, &c., &c., &c."
 This is as true as it is tritc. You cannot | suppose you are glNiuG any BROTHERHOOD 70
 any one who may have to read your letter,
 and your discussion seems out of place in a
 military dispatch. Your duty as a soldier is
 simply to put down those who are h9sfiis and Tot make war on those who are Hof, be they
 good or bad,
 You say you are unable to reconcile the in
 structions of the 18th of May with the fol. towing orders fiOm these Head Quarters ! Paragraphs and Q, Special Orders, No. 4G
 and 54, November lst and December 14th , 1SG6
 Paragraph directs you to keep the two ' companies at Camp Lincoln, on the Verde ' actively employed in offensive operations against the hostile Indians in Arizona" ! Paragraph directs you to keep the two | companies of the Sth Cavalry in constant ac , tive service, where most needed, and whcr, they can be most likely to meet "AostUe In
 dians"
 ; General Orders No. 40 and 54, of 1866 ! commands the conduct of Captain Sanford , for his successful expeditions against "thC hostile Apaches.'
 All these orders refer to operations under 3 taken, or to be undertaken against hostil, 5 Indians in Arizona"
 . The instructions which you say you ar, Q unable to reconcile with the order, simply ! forbid you to make war on Indians not hos tile, and direct you to recognize the acts O the Indian Department in the matter Of thos, 2 who are friendly.
 JOHN r. SnERBURNE,