I proposed to him that he should permit the occupants of the said missions to remain in them until they harvested their crops, and until they could procure shelter elsewhere. This he has consented to do. He further consented for them to remain for a longer time, if they desire to do so, (say another year,) provided they will further agree to pay something in the way of rent for the benefit of the Church-this to be a matter of special agreement between themselves and the priest. I am much pleased that the padre has given this consent; for it has spared me the performance of a very disagreeable and unpleasant duty— one that he has heretofore insisted on my performing. I am sure the occupants of the missions cannot fail to see the propriety of paying something to the priest for the benefit of his Church, if they wish to continue another year in the missions. All this you will communicate to them, and not carry. into execution your instructions for removing them. Take some good position in the vicinity of the pueblo or Santa Clara, where your horses can have plenty to eat; and let the people know that you have come there for the purpose of seeing what was going on, and to sustain the civil magistrates in the execution of the laws, if it becomes necessary. I am told you are going into a bad neighborhood; it will therefore be necessary that you keep up a good discipline and a close watch upon your horses, lest they be stolen. I am, respectfully, your obedient servant, R. B. MASON, Colonel 1st Dragoons, commanding. Capt. NAGLEE, 7th New York Volunteers, present. HEADQUARTERS TENTH MILITARY DEPARTMENT, SIR: Your communication of the 28th, and three of the 29th, ultimo, together with the accompanying papers, are received. I am fully aware there should be a show of force, at least, at San Diego; and, if I cannot get one of the ships of war there, I must send a company from here. I approve of your views, as expressed in your letter of the 28th June, relative to San Luis Rey, the Indian Samuel, and the property of an Indian agent at or near San Luis Rey, and will make the appointment as soon as you can find me a proper person. Any person put in charge of the missions must be put in possession by written instrument, expressly setting forth that they are in charge by the authority of the military, and that the person or persons are merely the tenants at will of the military government of California, and that no pre-emption rights are to be acquired by such possession. I send you the appointment for Mr. Foster. Fill up the blank in his appointment with his given name, which let me know; as also the names of the other ranches referred to in your above-named letter of the 28th ultimo. I enclose a blank bond, to be executed by the securities of the customhouse officer at San Diego, Don Miguel de Pedrovena. Similar bonds I desire you will cause to be given by the custom-house officers at San Pedro and Santa Barbara. I cannot find that any such have been given.. The salary of the collector of customs at Santa Barbara will be at the rate of $1,000 per annum, provided as much revenue is collected at his port as will pay it-the expenses of his office being first paid from the : revenue received. Should you not succeed in mustering in a Mormon company, you will send an officer and twenty men to San Diego to take charge of the public property until I can get a ship of war or a land force there. I regret to hear that any "prominent Californians" should make a threat to cut down your flag-staff. Such an act will be considered an act of war, and punished accordingly. Such threats, if they can be clearly proven, should be visited by prompt arrests, and the individuals sent out of the country, and not suffered to return. It will be well to intimate to the suspected individuals that, upon sufficient proof, such a course will be pursued. Should any men of your regiment wish to enlist in company "C," 1st dragoons, you will discharge them from your corps, upon the enlistment being completed. I am, respectfully, your obedient servant, Col. J. D. STEVENSON, R. B. MASON, Colonel 1st Dragoons, commanding. Commanding, Cuidad de los Angeles, California. HEADQUARTERS TENTH MILITARY DEPARTMENT, Monterey, California, July 19, 1847. SIR: I received, last evening, your letter of the 17th. The priest consented that the people at the missions should remain until they harvested their crops, and could procure shelter elsewhere, they to make use of reasonable exertions to do so. When they have harvested and secured their crops, they will then have to remove from the mission and mission land, unless they obtain the sanction of the priest to remain. The United States government fully recognise and will sustain the rights of the priests at the missions, and to all mission property, against all those who cannot, in due course of law, show a just and sound legal title; and my instructions from the President require me to sustain him. Show this letter and your instructions of the 11th instant to the occupants of the mission. I am, respectfully, your obedient servant, Capt. H. M. NAGLEE, Colonel 1st Dragoons, commanding. 7th New York Volunteers, Pueblo de San José. HEADQUARTERS TENTH MILITARY DepartmENT, Monterey, California, July 21, 1847. SIR: You will afford every assistance with your command to Mr. Sutter, the sub-Indian agent, to arrest the persons charged with the recent out rages committed upon the unoffending Indians on the Sacramento, and to restore to their people those Indians that the same persons have captured and now hold in bondage. The perpetrators, when arrested, must be safely kept until they can be brought to trial before such a tribunal as shall be organized. I shall, therefore, hold you to a strict responsibility for their safe-keeping. I am informed there are a number of United States horses in your neighborhood; if so, collect them and send them to Captain Folsom. Retain a few to mount any of your men that you may find it necessary to mount in executing these instructions. I will direct Captain Folsom to furnish you with money to purchase six or eight saddles and bridles. Be careful in expending the public money; use the most rigid economy, even in the smallest expenditures. I am, sir, very respectfully, your obedient servant, Lieutenant ANDERSON, R. B. MASON, Col. First Dragoons, Commanding. 7th New York Volunteers, Sutter's Fort. P. S.-Receive and obey Captain Folsom's instructions relative to collecting public horses. R. B. M., Colonel Commanding. HEADQUARTERS TENTH MILITARY DEPARTMENT, Monterey, California, July 22, 1847. SIR: When Mr. Nash, the late alcalde at Sonoma, arrives at San Francisco, I wish you to send him back to Sonoma, the expense to be paid out of the civil fund. The old gentleman appears fully sensible of his error, and has made me every promise that I could ask him. I am, respectfully, your obedient servant, Captain J. L. FOLSOM, R. B. MASON, Col. First Dragoons, Commanding. Assistant Quartermaster, San Francisco, California. HEADQUARTERS TENTH MILITARY DEPARTMENT, Santa Barbara, California, August 1, 1847. SIR: I enclose to you herewith the appointment as sub-Indian agent for the lower district of Upper California, and more especially for the district of country in and about the mission of San Luis Rey. This appointment invests you with a wide range of discretionary powers, and Colonel Mason wishes to impress upon you the great importance of your office, and the great good that will result to the people of that district from a prudent and mild, yet determined, course of conduct. You will establish yourself at or near the mission of San Luis Rey, and at the earliest moment practicable make a correct inventory of property belonging to that inission-such as farms, horses, cattle, and every species of property; a copy of which inventory you will send to headquarters. You will then consider yourself the agent for that property, so as effectually to guard it from abuse or destruction, and more especially to see that no damage or desecration is offered the church or any other religious fixture. You will take a protective charge of all the Indians living at the mission, and in the neighborhood, to draw them gradually to habits of order and industry, and maintain them from the proceeds of the mission property. You will likewise endeavor to reclaim such as formerly belonged to the mission, and persuade them to return, to restore it to its former prosperity. To do this, you can maintain them and their families at the mission, but in no event contract a debt, or go beyond the resources of the property of which you have the charge. You will make such rules for the government of the Indians as you deem suitable to their condition, so as to prevent their committing any depredations on others, or leading an idle, thriftless life. You will endeavor to prevent their going about in crowds, and make them receive from yourself a written paper when they desire to go any distance from their houses or rancherias, setting forth that they are under your protection, &c., &c. Much, however, is left to your own good sense and judgment to reclaim the old mission Indians to habits of industry, and, if possible, to draw in the wild ones too, and protect them in their lives and true interests, and to prevent them from encroaching in any way upon the peaceable inhabitants of the land. Frequent communication upon all subjects of interest is requested, both to the commanding officer at Los Angeles and to these headquarters. A small force will probably be sent to assist you in maintaining effectually your authority. Your salary will be seven hundred and fifty dollars a year, payable quarterly to yourself by the quartermaster at Los Angeles. I have the honor to be, your most obedient servant, W. T. SHERMAN, First Lieutenant Third Artillery, A. A. A. G. J. D. HUNTER, Late Captain Mormon Battalion, Santa Barbara, California. HEADQUARTERS SOUTHERN MILITARY DISTRICT, CALIFORNIA, Ciudad de los Angeles, July 27, 1847. COLONEL: Before the company of Mormons under the command of Captain Davis would consent to be mustered into the service of the United States, they required that the conditions, a copy of which is enclosed, should be signed by me. The only condition upon which I had any hesitation was that agreeing to discharge or pay transportation and rations for the time it would take for them to reach Bear river or San Francisco after they were disbanded; but upon reflection I became satisfied that it would be much cheaper to obtain them on these terms than to transport a company from the north to San Diego, to supply their place, and that, by way of saving transportation, they could be ordered to Bear river or San Francisco time enough to enable them to reach there before their term of service expired. The promise to disband them in March you had previously made to Hunt; I therefore had no difficulty on that point. There was a strong effort made to obtain for them other arms, that their own might, no doubt, be sent forward or disposed of to the Mormon association; but I positively refused to receive them without arms, except those who were formerly musicians and had now entered the ranks: these, together with some muskets unfit for service, in all about ten, five bayonets, and some few belts, and four non-commissioned officers' swords, were all the arms issued by the ordnance sergeant, and they were receipted for by the captain. I have promised to send them a garrison flag, and you will oblige me by directing the quartermaster to send one, of a medium size, to that post by the first opportunity. But for the neces sity of having troops to garrison San Diego, I should not have subscribed to the enclosed conditions, but have forwarded them to you. The exigency of the case, however, will, I trust, justify the act. The company left here early on the morning of the 25th, and will reach San Diego by Saturday next. The names of the officers are D. C. Davis, captain; 1st lieutenant, C. C. Canfield; 2d lieutenants, Inel Barras, and Robert Clift, who performed the duties of acting assistant quartermaster and commissary while that post was garrisoned by Captain Hunter's company; and as he is a good accountant, and has the reputation of being a very correct man, I have directed him to perform those duties at that post, under the command of Captain Davis. The christian name of Foster, alcalde at San Juan, is John, which I have inserted in the appointment and forwarded. I have also sent the bond to the collector at San Diego for execution, and I will see that the collectors at Santa Barbara and San Pedro both execute similar ones. In your letter of the 14th instant you name the amount of salary the collector at Santa Barbara is to receive, but omit San Diego. As neither the rate of compensation, nor the office expenses that will be allowed, have yet been fixed for that post, I would respectfully request that you will fix them at your earliest convenience. The mail before last I requested advice as to the extent of my jurisdiction as commander of the southern military district. As your last communication was silent on that subject, I presume it was overlooked. May I request an answer at your earliest convenience. All is quiet here as when I last wrote you. I have the honor to be, very respectfully, your obedient servant, Colonel R. B. MASON, 1st U. S. Dragoons, Governor of California. HEADQUARTERS TENTH MILITARY DEPARTMENT, Santa Barbara, California, August 2, 1847. SIR: Your several communications of the 21st, two of 23d, 24th, and two of 27th ultimo, have been duly received. The southern military district embraces the port of Santa Barbara. I return to you the proceedings of the council of administration in the case of sutler Haight, with my approval, though I do not deem any action in the matter necessary. Mr. H. has already been appointed sutler to your regiment by the Secretary of War. I approve of the conditions upon which the Mormon company have been engaged to serve, except that I would rather not have stipulated to |