NEW-YORK, Tuesday, Dec. 22, 1868.
To the Editor of the New-York Times:
    On the 19th instant your paper contained a letter from E. W. WYNKOOP, United States Indian Agent for the Cheyennes, Arapahoes and Apaches of the Plains, addressed to the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, resigning his (Col. WYNKOOP'S) agency, and giving the reasons therefor. That portion of it expressing or implying that I committed a breach of faith in my intercourse with him at the time of the destruction of the Cheyenne village on Pawnee Fork, April 19, 1867, is entirely unwarranted by the facts of the case, as the official documents presented herewith will show, Col. WYNKOOP states as follows, in his letter referred to:

    "The Indians were naturally under the impression that I was responsible for the outrage, but, after they fully understood my position, I became, at their request, their agent, and they have renewed the confidence they had in me previous to the Sand Creek murder, trusting me implicitly up to the time of Gen. HANCOCK'S memorable expedition, they then having received assurances from me that Gen. HANCOCK would not harm them, and seeing me with him, whom I had been induced to accompany, under assurances from himself that his mission was a peaceful one. Upon the destruction of their lodges, and other property, again they naturally inferred the fault was mine, and some time after, while in the performance of my duty among the Indians, I came near to losing my life, in consequence."

    On the 11th of March, 1867, I addressed Col. WYNCOOP an official letter setting forth the object of the contemplated expedition to the Plains; and on the 22d of the same month, another on the same subject, informing him that since my communication of the 11th, my orders in reference to the expedition had been modified, and that we would make no demands upon his tribe for past offences, but in the future would require a certain course of conduct on the part of the Indians which had been dictated to me in my instructions before I set out on the expedition; and that if depredations or outrages were committed by the Indians thereafter, we would punish the offending tribes.
    The night before the expedition marched from Fort Larned, April 12, 1867, I held a "talk" with Tall Bull and White Horse, two young Chiefs of the "Dog Soldiers," (Cheyennes,) in Col. WYNCOOP'S presence, when I told them in distinct terms what would be the consequences if they continued to commit murders and other outrages upon the whites. This "talk" is on record. I never departed in my actions from the tenor of the letters referred to addressed to Col. WYNCOOP, dated March 11 and 22, 1867, nor from my declarations to the Chiefs Tall Bull and White Horse, at Fort Larned.
    On the 15th of April I issued an order (copy inclosed) which clearly sets forth why I directed the destruction of the village. The murders and depredations committed by the Indians who had left that village a few days before are stated in said order. It expresses that those murders and depredations were committed after I had arrived at the village, and when the Indians knew perfectly well my intention to punish any new hostilities on their part. The fact of these murders never has been, and cannot be disputed. The terms of my letters to Col. WYNKOOP of the 11th and 22d March, 1867, were therefore not violated by me.
    My orders required me to go among the Indians with a sufficient force, to talk with them, to inform them that war or peace was optional with them, and to punish on the spot any new acts of hostility. They committed new acts of hostility almost in my presence by killing and burning our people, and I destroyed their village as a punishment therefor. My action in the matter met the approval of my Commanding officer, Lieut.-Gen. SHERMAN.
    In conclusion, I may add, that the Indian bureau, through its agents, has charged me with inaugurating the Cheyenne war of 1867, by destroying their village, notwithstanding the fact that my order for the destruction of the same expressly sets forth that it was a punishment for acts of war committed by the Indians belonging to that village a few days before. I am, Sir, very respectfully, your obedient servant,     WINFIELD S. HANCOCK,
                                                        Major-General U. S. A.

Source:

Hancock, Winfield S., "The Indians. Letter from Gen. Hancock--His Reply to Col. Wynkoop," The New York Times, New York, Monday, 28 December 1868, p. 5.