Arizona citizen., 1877-05-19
Agent Cum and Gen. Kautx.

Ho" Just anu HOnOrdDle the Depar
 ment Commander is
 HEADQUARTERS DEPT. OF ARIZONA
 PRESCOTT, A. T., February 12, 1877.
 ADJUTANT GENERAL '. s. 4
 Washington, D. c. Through Head quarters Military Division of tn
 Pacific and Department of California
 SIR: l have the honor to transmi herewith, report of & scout recently made by Captain Brayton, Sth L. Infantry. This scout was ordered upon an application of the actin! agent at the San Carlos reservation, copy herewith enclosed. It will b, observed that instead of six Indians Captain Brayton found thirty eight.
 Scouts are only ordered at the reques of the agent or when depreciation. are committed.
 The scouts from Camp Verde anC Camp Apache have almost invariably been successful Tn overriding anC lpunishing the renegades.
 An investigation of the number O scouts that have been made in the Territory, since I have been in com mand, or rather since June 1st 1875 reveals the fact that one hundred and seven Indians have been killed, ana sege1y-nine have been captured.
 The lact that they are invariably killed or captured, excites the inquiry why do they leave the reservation ir the face of such dangers where they are supposed to be provisIoned with lplenty to eat, security to life, and pro lperty, and the opportunity for ciyili zation and improvement? The popu. lar explanation is that they are badly treated on the ervation, do not get enought to eat, and fly to escape the bangs Cf hunger. Another is, that there are so many different tribes that have been hostile to each other, con. centrated on the San Carlos reservation, that old feuds revive, and some of them are driven away by their enemies Another explanation is found in the Innste savage nature and aversion to restraint.
 This last finds strong plausibility in the fact that the scouts employed to hunt them up are their own people frequently their own tribe and kin, enlisted in the servIce, who pursue them with the unerring instinct of the bloodhound, and kill them as remorselessly as they ever did the whites; and it is only through the presence of officers that women and children spared.
 Is there not ample room for doubt whether such savageness has yet reach- ed that degree of development which will admit in another generation, of a material approach to the civilization of the white race, and is there any hope that the present generation can be controlled by any other influence than overpowering force, such as the mill tary service alone can furnish?
 Since the agent occasionally reports the absence of Indians to the military authority, and requests pursuit and punishment, it is supposed that he does so whenever he knows of their absence, yet, when the scouts go out, they find a great many more. The inference fs that the absenteeS are much more numerous than there is any official knowledge of. The conclusion follows that there is a cause and that cause is found in the fact that there is a pos slble saving in ratIons which may go to the benefit of those who draw the rationS, or those who issue them, as the case may be.
 The consequences most seriously affecting the military service, are the depredations perpetrated by the absen- tees The troops are expected to pur- sue and punish the perpetrators if they cannot prevent the acts, but having no control of the Indians, no means of knowing when they leave the res erYation, of their numbers, or where they will strike, the troops are at great disadvantage, and whilst the greatest possible success has attended their eff forts from the posts of Camps Verde and Apache, the reverse is the case from the posts of Grant, Lowell and Bowie.
 From some cause the Indians are constantly leaving the reservations and at times committing depredations, and in certain quarters the troops areI held responsible We must bear the abuse of failure to prevent or punish the deprcdaiors, besides having very arduous and tLankiess labor provided by the Inability OF ilcfiicieacy, to say nothing If the IcguieJ c.im:naliiy oi the agents to Keep the Indians from leaving their reservations.
 Recent deprcdations Tn the southern portion of the Territory, illustrative of the points herein referred to, will be made the subject of special com. 
 The highest commendation is due Captain Brayton for tine success of this. his last scout.