WASHINGTON, Sunday, Sept. 1, 1867.
    The following facts have been compiled from official documents. Although not new they throw light on recent transactions in the Indian country.
    On the 13th of March last Major-Gen. HANCOCK addressed a letter to Col. WYNKOOP, agent for the Cheyennes, Apaches, and Arapahoes, at Fort Larned, Kansas, in which he says:
    "I have the honor to send you this communication for the purpose of informing you that I have about completed arrangements to move a force to the Plains, and only await a proper condition of the roads to march. My object in making an expedition at this time is to show the Indians within the limits of this department that we are able to chastise any tribes who may molest people who are traveling across the Plains. It is not my desire to bring on difficulties with the Indians, but to treat them with justice and according to our treaty stipulations, and I desire especially in any dealings with them to act through their agents as far as practicable.
    In reference to the Cheyennes of your agency in particular, I may say that we have just grounds of grievance. One is, that they have not delivered up the murderer of the New-Mexican at Zaroh. I also believe that I have evidence sufficient to fix upon different bands of that tribe whose chiefs are known to have been in several of the outrages committed on the Smoky Hill last Summer. I request that you will inform them in such a manner as you think proper, that I expect shortly to visit their neighborhood, and that I will be glad to have an interview with their Chiefs; and tell them also, if you please, that I go fully prepared for peace or war, and that hereafter I will insist on their keeping off the main lines of travel, where their presence is calculated to bring about collision with the whites. If you can prevail upon the Indians of your agency to abandon their habits of infesting the country traversed by our overland routes, threatening, robbing, and intimidating travelers, we will defer that matter to you. If not, I would be pleased by your presence with me when I visit the locality of your tribes, to show that the officers of the Government are acting in harmony."

Major H. DOUGLAS, under date of March 14, writes to Major HENRY E. NOYES:
    "I have received from LITTLE REAVEN, head Chief of the Arapahoes, a message to the effect that no more wood must be cut by this command on the Pawnee Fork, and that the troops must move out of the country by the time grass grows. Mr. JONES, the interpreter at this post, brought me a message from SATANTA, the principal Chief of the Kiowas, to the effect that all white men must move out of Council Grove by the Spring; that he gave me ten days to move from this post; that he wanted the mules and cavalry horses fattened, as he would have use for them, as he intended to appropriate them; that all the Indians had agreed to stop the railroads and roads at Council Grove; that no roads or railroads will be allowed west of that point."

    Major J. H. PAGE, Third Infantry, brought a message from the same chief:
    "Tell the Chiefs on the road that they must gather their soldiers and leave, if they don't I will help them to leave. No wagons will no allowed on the road except those that bring presents; If any are found they will be taken."
    Subsequently, in council SATANTA stated in substance the same, but not in an insulting manner, which has already been reported to District Headquarters.
    It has taken reported to me that eight Arapahoes, apparently friendly, stopped on the 10th last, at the camp of a Mr. GILCHRIST, a wagonmaster for a Mr. H. WADELLS, of Mero, New-Mexico, on the other side of Fort Aubrey, (120 miles from here,) shot at the herder and run off forty head of mules and one mare.
    J. H. LEAVENWORTH, Indian Agent for the Comanches and Kiowas, in a letter dated Fort Larned, Kansas, April 9, to the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, says: I arrived at Fort Zaroh, Kansas, on the 3d instant. Gen. HANCOCK arrived on the 5th instant with his whole command, consisting of artillery, cavalry and infantry, about 1,500 strong. I immediately called upon him and requested information as to the object of his movements so far as related to the Indians of my agency, viz.: the Comanches and Kiowas, he very kindly and promptly furnished me with the inclosed papers, marked Nos. 1, 2 and 3. As none of the Indians of my agency have visited this great line of travel, except a very few, since they received their annuity goods last October, and as it was uncertain what portion of the department he might visit with his command, he expressed a wish that I would accompany him, and as I believed it to be eminently proper, I willingly consented, and should anything occur concerning the Indians of my agency, or the interest of the Department generally, I shall make full report of the same.
    One of the letters above referred to by Gen. HANCOCK acquaints Col. WYNKOOP that the object in preparing an expedition to the Plains is to convince the Indians that we are able to punish any of them who may molest travelers across the Plains, or who may commit other hostilities against the whites. "We," he says, "desire to avoid any troubles with the Indians, and to treat them with justice, and according to the requirements of the treaties with them, and I wish especially in my dealings with them to act through the agents of the Indian Department as far as it is possible to do so. Concerning the Kiowas of your agency, we have grave reasons for complaint. Among others it is officially reported to these Headquarters that that tribe has been making hostile incursions into Texas, and that a war party has very recently returned to Fort Dodge from that State, bringing with them the scalps of fourteen colored soldiers and one white man. I am also informed that the Kiowas have been threatening our posts in Arkansas; that they are about entering into a compact with the Sioux for hostilities against us, and that they have robbed and insulted officers of the United States Army who have visited them, supposing that they were friends. It is well ascertained that certain members of that tribe (some of whom are known) are guilty of the murder of JAMES BOX, a citizen of Montague County, Texas, last Summer, and of the capture and barbarous treatment of woman in his family. I desire you to particularly explain to them that one reason why the Government does not at once send troops against them, to redress these outrages against our people, is that their Great Father is averse to commencing a war upon them (which would certainly end in destroying them) until all other means of redress fail. I request that you will inform the Indians of your agency that I will hereafter insist upon their keeping off the main routes of travel across the plains, where their presence is calculated to bring about difficulties between themselves and the whites. If you, as their agent, can arrange these matters satisfactorily with them, we will be pleased to refer the whole subject to you. In case of your inability to do so, I would be pleased to have you accompany me when I visit the country of your tribes, to show that the officers of the Government are acting in harmony. I will be pleased to talk with any of the chiefs whom you may meet."
    A large number of other documents show the hostile character of Indians and their massacres and depredations.
    Gen. ORD, in a communication dated March 5, says:
    "The wild Comanches are bent on mischief. From the fact that they steal from the frontiers and have supplied themselves with large caballados, that they supply horses to the Northern Indians on the R. R. D. and mail routes, I think it important to put a stop to their wholesale plundering. I propose building posts in their country, as that demoralizes them more than anything else, except money and whisky."
    Among the documents is a letter from Maj.-Gen. HANCOCK, dated Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, July 31, 1867, addressed to Headquarters of the Army of the United States, in which he says he has the honor to acknowledge the receipt of certain communications named by him, and continues: "In reply to the letters of Cols. WYNCOOP and LEAVENWORTH, herein referred to, and a telegram dated May 28, 1867, from Gen. GRANT, upon the subject of the burning of the Indian villages on Pawnee Fork, Aug. 19, 1867, I have the honor to subject the following statement, first premising that I have replied to Gen. GRANT'S telegram of May 28 by a telegram of the same date, and that in my official report of the operations of the expedition made last Spring to the Plains under my command, forwarded to Gen. GRANT by Lieut.-Gen. SHERMAN a full and accurate history is given of the objects of that expedition and the military movements connected with it, together with my reasons for destroying the villages of the Sioux and the Cheyennes on the Pawnee Fork, &c.
    The report in question touches on all the main points mentioned in the copies of the letters from Cols. WYNKOOP and LEAVENWORTH, referred to me by Gen. GRANT, May 23, 1867, and is believed to be sufficiently full in details to cover the questions mentioned therein; yet there are a few statements made in some of them which are inaccurate, and which I desire to correct. They are as follows:
    Among the letters inclosed is a copy of one from Col. WYNKOOP, dated Headquarters District of the Upper Arkansas, March 14, 1867, slating that WILSON GRAHAM, the Cheyenne boy who was captured from that tribe sometime since, is now en route to this post (Fort Riley.) As soon as he arrives he will be sent to you, in order that he may be delivered to his nearest relative. Please inform this office of the name and band of his nearest relatives.
    No authority was ever given by me to the commanding officer of the District of the Upper Arkansas to transfer the child in question to any agent of the Indian Department whatever. On the contrary, I Informed the commanding officer at Larned (through Headquarters District of the Upper Arkansas,) in a letter dated at these Headquarters, 11th of March, 1867, (copy inclosed, marked A,) that the boy in question--who was then under my charge at Fort Leavenworth--would be sent to that post (Fort Larned,) for delivery to his nearest relatives, and that he had been obtained from the persons who had had possession of him since his capture, through the exertions of the military authorities, this action on my part being in accordance with the instructions I had received on that subject from Headquarters Military Division of the Missouri, in a special order dated St. Louis, Mo., Feb. 26, 1867, (a copy inclosed, marked B.) The boy being too unwell to travel as soon as was anticipated, I detained him here until I started with the expedition to the Plains, (March 25,) when he accompanied me and was delivered by me personally to the commanding officer at Fort Larned, leaving with him the following instructions:
    HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF THE MISSOURI,}
                   NEAR FORT LARNED, KANSAS,}
                           April 12, 1866.  }
The Commanding Officer, Fort Larned:
    SIR: In leaving this camp it is the intention of the Major-General Commanding to place in your charge the Cheyenne boy, now in his possession, known by the name of WILSON GRAHAM. You will retain him until an opportunity presents for the delivery of him to his nearest relatives. His mother is said to be living, and is said to belong to the Black Kettle band. When you deliver him to his relatives you will take a receipt for him.
                     I am, Sir, very respectfully,
                                       Your obedient servant,
    [Signed)                                  W. G. MITCHELL,
    Captain, and Acting Assistant Adjutant-General.

    In a conversation which I had with Col. WYNKOOP on this subject while I was at Fort Larned, I informed him that my instructions required me to deliver the boy to his nearest relatives through the military authorities, and not through the Indian agents.
    A copy of a letter from Col. LEAVENWORTH, United States Indian Agent for the Comanches and Kiowas, to Hon. N. G. TAYLOR, Commissioner of Indian Affairs, dated April 9, 1867, states that he (Col. LEAVENWORTH) was directed by instructions from the Indian Bureau to proceed to St. Louis to receive from Lieut.-Gen. SHERMAN, WILSON GRAHAM, the Cheyenne boy in question, and to deliver him to Col. WYNKOOP, at Fort Learned. Upon his arrival at St. Louis, Lieut.-Gen. SHERMAN informed me that the child had been sent to me with instructions to deliver him to the Cheyennes in the presence of the agent. These instructions would have been carried out while I was present at Fort Larned, had the band of Cheyennes, to which his relatives belonged, (BLACK KETTLE) been in that country at that time. It was reported to be in Texas, and I left the boy with the commanding officer at Fort Larned, with the instructions before referred to. Shortly after that time, April 15, the Cheyennes commenced the present war against us, which has thus far rendered the delivery of the child to his friends impracticable.
    In the letter of Col. WYNKOOP, dated at my headquarters on Pawnee Fork, April 18, 1867, addressed to Hon. N. G. TAYLOR, Commissioner of Indian Affairs, he states that a courier had arrived in my camp from Gen. CUSTER, (then in pursuit of the Sioux and Cheyennes from Pawnee Fork,) with the information that the Cheyennes had turned and gone toward the Arkansas River, while the Sioux had continued northward, he followed the Sioux trail, and the last dispatch from him (Gen. CUSTER) is to the effect that the Sioux, upon crossing the Smoky Hill road, had destroyed a mail station and killed three men.
    Col. WYNKOOP then goes on to state that as there was yet no evidence of the Cheyennes having committed any overt act of hostility, he made an appeal to me to preserve the village belonging to that tribe, as it was distinct from that of the Sioux.
    There is no evidence in Gen. CUSTER'S report of the pursuit of the Sioux and Cheyennes from the village on the Pawnee Fork which would go to prove that they had separated, or that the Cheyennes were not implicated in the killing and burning of the three men at Lookout Station on the 15th of April, and burning of the Station. On the contrary, in Gen. CUSTER'S report to Brevet-Major-Gen. A. J. SMITH, commanding District of the Upper Arkansas, of April 19, received after the destruction of the village, (and too late to be considered in that connection) in reference to the outrage at Lookout Station on the Smoky Hill, he says expressly that after a careful examination by himself and the Delaware scouts, who were with him, it was found impracticable to discover the slightest clue as to what tribe had committed the act, but says in his report to Gen. SMITH of the 17th of April, (copy inclosed marked D,) that the outrages were certainly committed by the Indians who abandoned the village on Pawnee Fork. They were a portion of the same body of Indians, about 800 strong, who crossed the Smoky Hill road on the 16th of April, and reported themselves to be Sioux, Cheyennes and Pawnees. They were all stripped; and painted for war at that time, and in addition to the previous killing and burning at Lookout Station, they fired into Stormy Hollow Mail Station, and ran off stock from that point belonging to the mail company, threatened the mail station East of Stormy Hollow, and ran off stock belonging to the Union Pacific Railway, E. D., a few miles further North.
    My official report of the operations of the expedition last Spring shows conclusively that I did not determine to destroy the Indian villages, until I had learned officially of the outrage committed on the Smoky Hill by the Indians, (Sioux and Cheyennes,) who had treacherously left their camps on Pawnee Fork on the 14th of April, or during the previous night.
    In none of the reports which were received from Gen. CUSTER of his pursuit of the Indians from Pawnee Fork, were there any facts going to show that the Cheyennes had left the Sioux and gone south. All of the information contained in the dispatches of Gen. CUSTER at that time was to the effect that the Indians from Pawnee Fork (Sioux and Cheyennes) remained together, (with probably a few exceptional small bands,) until they arrived at the Smoky Hill, when they committed the murders and depredations on the mail stations, and then pursued their flight northward.
    In reference to the statement of Col. WYNKOOP that the village of the Cheyennes was distinct from that of the Sioux, I can only say that the villages stood upon the same ground, and I was unable, after an inspection which I made in person, to distinguish with any certainty the lodges of the Cheyennes from those of the Sioux; nor could any of the officers who were with me say positively where the line of separation between the villages commenced, although it was understood that the Sioux were on the north side and the Cheyennes on the southern and eastern sides.
    It is not seen on what grounds "the Indians became fully impressed with the belief that Gen. HANCOCK had come for the purpose of murdering their women and children, as had previously been done at Sand Creek." (See same letter from Col. WYNKOOP to Hon. N. G. TAYLOR, of April 18, 1867.) Nothing which I said to the Sioux and Cheyenne chiefs, whom I had met at Larned on the 12th of April, or at the meeting near the villages on the 14th of that month, could have led the Indians to such a conclusion, or have given them apprehensions of such murderous inclinations on my part, for I had certainly assured them that my intentions were peaceful, and that I had only marched into their country for the purpose of having a conference with the different tribes, so that they might have a full and just understanding of the views and intentions of the military authorities in reference to their future conduct, and their interference with the railways and other routes of travel, emigrants passing through their country and the treatment of our frontier settlers.
    Such were well known to Cols. WYNKOOP and LEAVENWORTH to be the objects of the expedition, and they constantly assured the Indians, when in my presence, that my intentions were peaceful, and it was not until after the hostilities on the Smoky Hill, subsequent to their abandonment of the village on Pawnee Fork, which compelled me to destroy their village, that the assertions were made that the Indians had actually been forced into a war, (See Col. WYNKOOP'S letter of April 21, to Hon. N. G. TAYLOR, Commissioner of Indian Affairs.) While on this subject it is proper to state that none knew better than Cols. WYNKOOP and LEAVENWORTH that I did not march to the Plains last Spring for the purpose of commencing a war with the Indians, for before my departure from Fort Leavenworth I had written to each of them informing them of my instructions, and of the objects of the expedition, and stating that no Indians would be arrested or called to account by me for past outrages and depredations, unless upon the application of the agents themselves. In his letters of April 21 and 24, the first from Fort Dodge, the latter from Fort Larned Col. WYNKOOP again reiterates the statement that the village of the Cheyennes on Pawnee Fork was burned without provocation or any overt act on the part of that tribe. Notwithstanding, he must surely have known when he was at Fort Dodge with me, from the reports which I had received from Gen. CUSTER, the contents of which were made known to him, (and these were the only possible sources of information at that time,) that the Cheyennes generally had not gone south of the Arkansas when they deserted the villages at Pawnee Fork, but had fled north of the Smoky Hill with the Sioux, and were parties with the latter to the murders and burning at Lookout Station, and the other outrages committed on the Smoky Hill about the same time. I consider the evidence as to the participation of the Cheyennes in the massacre of Lookout Station, and the depredations on the Smoky Hill, after they had abandoned the village on Pawnee Fork, contained in Gen. CUSTER'S reports of his pursuits of the Cheyennes and Sioux, conclusive and beyond question, their conduct on that occasion being, in my opinion, only a continuation of the outrages which they had been previously committing against the whites in this department ever since I had assumed command of it in August, 1866.
    To show the temper of the Cheyennes toward us, and the feelings of hostility which animated them before the expedition to the plains last Spring, I inclose herewith the reports of former outrages perpetrated in the Summer and Fall, with evidence which it is considered fixes the guilt of these outrages upon that tribe beyond any question or doubt, viz.:
    Sept. 19, 1866--A party of savages ran off fourteen horses and two mules (See copy of a report from Lieut. FLOOD, Sixth United States Volunteers, inclosed, marked E 1; also an indorsement on a report of Lieut. JOSEPH HALE, dated Nov. 10, 1866, inclosed, marked E 2; also a copy of an affidavit of Mr. H. P. WYANT, on the same subject, marked E 3; copy of affidavit of Mr. WILLIAM COMSTOCK, a Government guide and interpreter at Fort Wallace, marked E 4, and copy of statement of JOHN SMITH, United States Indian interpreter, marked E 5.)
    Sept. 29, 1866.--Two employees of the Overland Mail Company murdered at Chalk Bluffs mail station. As evidence showing that the murders were committed by the Cheyennes, I transmit copies of a letter from Mr. D. STREET, agent of the Overland Mail Company, marked F, dated Oct. 23, 1866; of an affidavit from Mr. WM. COMSTOCK, United States guide and interpreter at Fort Wallace, marked E 4; of an affidavit from Mr. JAMES WADSWORTH, driver on the Overland Mail line, marked F 2; of a letter from Capt. W. M. KEOGH, Seventh Cavalry, commanding post Fort Wallace, dated Dec. 20, 1866, marked F 3, with inclosure of a letter from Lieut. JAMES HALE, Third Infantry, dated Dec. 19, 1866, marked F 4.
    Oct. 12, 1866.--A band of Indians burned the mail station of Chalk Bluffs. I invite attention to the following papers, before referred to, (inclosed herewith,) fixing that outrage upon the Cheyennes; letter from Lieut. J. HALE, Third Infantry, dated Nov, 10, 1866; letter of Oct. 3, 1866, from Mr. D. STREET, agent of the Overland Mail Company, and a letter from Lieut. HALE, Third Infantry, dated Dec. 19, 1866.
    Nov. 10, 1866,--An unprovoked murder of a New-Mexican was committed at Fort Zara by a Cheyenne, FOX TAIL, a son of MEDICINE ARROW, a prominent man of that tribe, (See on this subject the inclosed copy of a report from Second Lieut. J. R. THOMPSON, Third Infantry, marked G.) That murder has never been denied even by the Cheyennes.
    I also inclose a copy of a statement, marked H, from Mr. JOHN SMITH, United States Indian interpreter; dated July 4, 1867, in reference to the killing of six white men by the Cheyennes in the month of June, 1866, on one of the tributaries of Solomon's Fork, and a copy of a letter dated Feb. 22, 1867, from Mr. F. R. PAGE, U. S. Agent for the Kansas Indians, (marked I,) stating that about the first day of January, 1867, a part of the Cheyennes attached to the Kaw Chief KATIAUGAH captured forty-four horses and wounded one man. I have also on record at my headquarters the official report of various outrages and depredations committed before the present war by other tribes belonging to the agencies of Cols. WYNKOOP and LEAVENWORTH.--Arapahoes, Kiowas and Comanches, some of which the Indians themselves, when in council with me last Spring, acknowledged to have been justly charged to them. The reports in all such cases were promptly reported by me to the Indian Department as soon as they were received; and though I had constantly informed the Department, through the agents, that I was ready to assist them with the troops under my command in arresting the offenders, I have never, in a single instance, been called upon to render such assistance; and in all cases (even in that of the murder of the New-Mexican, at Zara, when the name of the culprit was known) the guilty ones have been permitted to go unpunished.
    Col. WYNKOOP'S letter of April 21st also contains the following:
    "I have just arrived with Gen. HANCOCK'S column at the post, (Fort Dodge,) and learn, since my arrival here a few days ago, six Cheyenne Indians, on foot, were attacked by 135 cavalry, about twenty-five miles west of this post, and all of them killed. I also learn that they had done nothing to provoke an attack, but were of the party that had fled before HANCOCK'S approach."
    In reply to this passage, I will merely quote that portion of my official report which referred to this matter. It contains the facts which I drew from the report of the late Major W. COOPER of the Seventh Cavalry, who commanded the detachment which had the encounter at the Cimmeron Crossings with the Indians referred to in Col. WYNKOOP'S letter: "On my arrival there (Fort Dodge) on the 19th inst., April,) a party of Cheyennes (evidently runners from the North) had approached the Cimmeron Crossing, and were discovered skulking around the bivouac of a detachment of the Seventh Cavalry, which was at that point under command of Major WICKLIFF COOPER of that regiment. When the Indians were perceived they were endeavoring to steal up to some herders who were in charge of the cattle of the command, and it is supposed they were not aware of the presence of the troops.
    Major COOPER directed Lieut. BERRY, of the Seventh Cavalry, with twenty men, to advance and demand the surrender, which was done through the interpreter. In reply the Indians fired upon the troops. They were attacked and pursued across the river, and six of them (all that were seen) were killed. One of our men was wounded, and one horse was killed.
    I herewith transmit a copy of Col. W. COOPER'S report of the affair, (marked K.)
    In concluding this letter, it is proper for me to say again that before the expedition of last Spring set out I informed Agents WYNKOOP and LEAVENWORTH fully of its object, telling them that war was not intended against the Indians, and that it was my earnest desire to act through them in all matters connected with the tribes under their agencies.
     I also invited them to accompany me on my march from Fort Larned to Fort Dodge, so that they might be present at my interviews with the chiefs of the various tribes, and hear what I had to say to them during the time they were in my camp. They must have observed that all of my conferences were with a view of preserving peace on the plains, and all of my actions friendly until the treachery of the Sioux and Cheyennes at Pawnee Fork, and the murders and depredations committed by them on the Smoky Hill route, after they ran away from their village, compelled me to take hostile measures against them.
    It is worthy of remark in this connection that while in my camp Col. LEAVENWORTH stated to me in conversation that the tribes of his agency had been greatly wronged by having been charged with various offences which had been committed by the Indians of Col. WYNKOOP'S agency, (Cheyennes, Arapahoes and Apaches.) In the opinion of Col. LEAVENWORTH, as expressed to me, the Indians of Col. WYNKOOP'S agency, especially the Cheyennes, deserved severe summary punishment for their numerous misdeeds, very many of which had been laid at the door of his innocent tribes, (the Comanches and Kiowas.)
    But Col. WYNKOOP informed me in conversation, about the same time that the Arapahoes, Apaches and especially the Cheyennes, were peacefully inclined, and rarely committed offences against the laws; but most unfortunately, they were charged with crimes which had been committed by other tribes, and that in this respect they had suffered heavily from the Kiowas, of Col. LEAVENWORTH'S Agency, who were of the most turbulent Indians on the Plains, and deserved punishment more than any others. More recent events have shown that all the tribes above referred to, (save, probably, a portion of the Comanches) including the Sioux, were determined upon a general outbreak this Summer, and that the abandonment of the village on Pawnee Forks, and the murders committed immediately afterward on the Smoky Hill, were but the commencement of a war which had been threatened to our post commanders on many occasions during the Winter, and which is now waged with savage fury on the part of the Indians throughout my command and the Department of the Platte and Dakotah.
    In reference to the threats made last Winter by the Indians, of war against us this Summer, I transmit herewith (marked "L,") copies of two communications from Major H. DOUGLASS, commanding post of Fort Dodge, which concerns particularly the Kiowas and Arapahoes. One of the letters is addressed to the Assistant Adjutant-General, Department of the Missouri; the other to the Acting Assistant Adjutant-General of the District of the Upper Arkansas. I also transmit a copy of a letter from Brevet Major ASHBURY, 3d July, bearing on this subject, marked, L 3.
    This reply to the statements of Cols. WYNKOOP and LEAVENWORTH contained in the copy of their letters referred to me by order of Gen. GRANT, May 23, would have been transmitted promptly after the date of their receipt but for the fact that since that time until the 15th inst. I have been constantly on the Plains marching almost every day, which prevented me from giving my attention to the matter until the present moment.
    Owing to the absence of Mr. JOHN SMITH, United States Indian interpreter, I have withheld two of his affidavits (marked H) until his return, believing that an error was committed by him in giving the name of one of the bands of Indians at the time of writing them, which can then be corrected. They will then be transmitted for file with his communication. Herewith I return the originals of the papers referred to me by Gen. GRANT May 23, for my remarks.       I am, Major, very respectfully,
                                          Your obedient servant,
                                          WINFIELD S. HANCOCK,
                                  Major-General U. S. A., Commanding.

Source:

Unknown and G. H., "The Indian War, Gen. Hancock's Late Peace Expedition, His Correspondence With Indian Agents. Warlike Messages from Indian Chiefs," The New York Times, Monday, 2 September 1867, p. 5.