Mr. DOOLITTLE. The special select committee of the 2 Houses of Congress, appointed under the JtResolution of March 3, 1865, directing an inquiry into the condition of the Indian tribes and their treatment by the civil and military authorities of the U.S., have instructed me to submit the following report, with an appendix accompanying the same: At its meeting on the 9th of March the following stubdivision of labor was made: to Messrs Doolittle, Foster, and Ross was assioned the duty of inquiring into Indian affairs in the State of Kansas, the Indian Territory. Colorado, NewMexico, and Utah. As TsoignMeedssrs.Nesmith and Higby the same duty was in the States of Nevada, California, Oregon, and and in the Territories of Washington, Idaho, and Montana. To Messrs. Windom and Hubbard the same duty was assigned in the State of Minnesota, and in the Territories of Nebraska, Dakota, and Upper Montana. The result of their inquiries is to be found in the appendix accompanyingthis report. The work was immense, covering a continent. While they have gathered a vast amount of testimony and important information, bearing upon our pInlqdriaantio affairs they are still consciousthat their exhave been imperfect. As it wasfound impossible for the members of the committee in person to take the testimony or personal from observations to necessary learn all that they deemed to form a correct iudgment of the true condition of the Indian tribes, they deemed it wise, by a circular letter addressed to officers of Army, experienced Indian agents and superintendents, and to other persons of great knowledge in Indian affairs, to obtain from them a statement of result of their experienceand information. the o: committee have arrived at the following conclusions: 1st. The Indians everywhere, with the exception of rapidly tdheecrteraibseinsgwithin the Indian Territory, are in by disease, by intempneuramnbeeer, s from various causes: o, wars among themselvesand with the whites, by the steady and resist less immigration of white meninto the Territories of the West, which, confining the Indians to still narrow or limits, destroys that game which in qual their nor state constitutes their principal means of sistence, suband by the irrepressible conflict between a superior and an inferior race when brought in Presence of mony ageraecehso. ther. Upon this subject all the testimony In answer to “are increasingothredeqcureesatsioinng, whether the Indians in numbers, and from what causes, ”Major General Pope says: “They are o decreasing in numbers from various causes: by disease, by wars, by cruel treatment on the part of the whites, both by irresponsible persons and by Government officials; by unwisepolicy of the Government, or by inhuman and dishonest administration of that policy; and by steady and resistless encroachments of the white immigration toward the West, which is everyday confining the Indians to narrower limits, and driving off or killing the game, their only means of subsistence.” To the same question General John T. Sprague gives the following answer:. “The Indians are decreasing in numbers, caused by their proximity to the white man., So soon as Indians adopt the habits of white men, they begin to decrease, aggravated by imbibing all mone their vicesand of their virtues. Other causes exist, too numerous to be detailed in this paper.” ! The following is the answer of General Carleton to the same question: “As a general rule, the Indians alluded to creasing are dever rol; in numbers in my opinion. The causes for this have been many, and may be summedup as follows: “1. Wars with our pioneers and our armedforces: change of climate and country amongthosewho have W. moved from east of the Mississippi to the far 'est, “2. Intemperance and the exposure consequent thereon. lac“k3. Venereal diseases, which they areunable, from of modicine and skiii, to systems, eradicatefrom their and which, among Indians who live nearest the whites, is generally diffused by either scrofula or someother form of its taint. “4. Small pox, measles, and cholera diseasesun known to them in the early days of the country. “5. The causeswhich the Almighty originates, when in their appointed time He wills that one race of men as in races of lower animals shall disappear off the face of the earth and give place to race, another and so on, in self, the great cycletracedoutby Him which may be seen but has reasonstoo deep to be fathomod by us. The races of the mammoths and mastodons, and the great sloths, came and passed away: the red man of America is passingaway !” General Wright gives his testimony to the same point, as follows: “The Indian tribes are rapidly decreasing in numbers, especiallywest of the Rocky mountains, caused in some measureby the wars waged against them, and more particularly by the engroachments of the whites upon their hunting groundsand fisheries and other means of subsistence, and o the readiness with which they adopt the vices of than their virtues; hence their numbers hairtees rapidly diminished by disease and death.” These officers have had large experience in Indian affairs, and they are supported by testimony of many other of the motsht eexcpoenrciuernrceendt officers and civilians.. The tribes in the Indian Territory were most happily exempted from this constant tendency to decay up to the commencement of the late civilWar. Until they became involved in that they were actually advancing in population, education, civilization, and agricultural wealth. Their exceptional condition may be attributed to the fact that from their earliest history thesetribes had to a considerable extent cultivated the soil and kept herds of cattle and horses; that they were located ian most fertile territory and withdrawn from the neighborhood and influence of and "to the legitimate influence white settlements of Christianity among education and them. The war has made a terrible diminution of their number, and brought diseaseand demoralization in its train. A full account of the condition of the Cher okeeswill be found in the reply of Hon. J. Harlan. agent of the Cherokees. The recent treaties with the tribes in the Indian Territory, and the reports of their improved condition since the pacification, give strong hopes that theiro prosperitywill return. The committee determined, if possible, to ascertain the real causeof the destruction of the tribes, and proposed to the officersabove named, and to others, many the following mostimportant inquiry bearing upon that subject, namely: “What diseasesare most common and most fatal among them; and from what causes” T“Tohtehise General Sprague paid nlsywearnsd: suddenly from oand measles, and from neglect and expos ure to the weather. The adults die from fevers imali pox, drunkenness, and diseases engendered from sexual intercourse. These diseases are among the men and women in the most malignant form, as the Indian doctors are unable to managethem. Indulgence in liquor, exposure, and the absence of remedie saggravatethe disease. In this, striking at the very basis of procreation, is to be found the active cause of the destruction of the Indian race.” General Pope is of opinion that.” Venereal diseases, particularly 2ndarysyphilis, is the most common and destructive. It is to be Indian, man doubted whether one or woman, in 5 is free from this diseaseor its offects.”. Without quoting from others, it will be found by the united testimony of all that this disease, more than all other diseases, and perhaps more than all other causes, is the active agent of the destruction of the Indian race. Add to this intemperance, exposure, the want of sufficient food and clothing, wars among themselvesand wars with the whites, and we are at no loss to account for the utter ex; tinction of many of the most powerful, tribes and the ultimate disappearance of nearly all upon this continent. It is a sad but faithful picture. INDIAN WARS With The whites. The committeeare of opinion that in a majority large of cases Indian wars are to be traced to aggressions the of lawless white men, always to befound upon the frontier or boundary line between, savage and civilized life. such is the statement of the most experienced officers of the army and of have been long conversant with Indian affairs. ewhe kaCnoslaosn, el Bent, who has lived upon the Upper Ar that near Bent's fort, for 36 years, states in nearly every instance difficultiesbetweenIndians and the whites arose from aggressionson the Indians by the whites. The war with the Sioux, commencing in 1854t, hewarwith the Arrapahoes, and Cheyennes in 1865a, retraced by him directly to aggressions. those Colonel IXit Carson, who has lived upon the plains and in the mountains since1826 and hasbeen all that time well acquaintedwith the Indian tribes in peace and in war, confirmsthis statement. He says, “As a general thing the difficulties arise from aggressions on the part of the whites.” “The whites are always ohe Indians, and are not willing to do them Justice.” From whatever cause wars may be brought on, either betweendifferent Indian tribesor betweenthe Indians and the whites, they are very destructive, not only of the lives of the warriors engaged in it, but of the women and children also. often becoming a war of extermination. such is the rule of savage warfare, and it is difficult if not impossible to restrain white men, especially white men upon the frontiers, from adopting the same mode of warfare against the Indians. The indiscriminate slaughter of men, women, and children has frequently occurred in history of Indian wars. But the fact which gitvhees such terrible forceto the condemnation of the whole sale massacreof Arrapahoes and Cheyennes, by the CLyoolonr, ado troops under Colonel Chivington, nearFort was that those Indians were there encamped under the direction of our own officers, and believed themselves to be under the protection of our flag. To the honor of the Government it may be said that a just atonement for this violation of its faith was sought to be made in the latetreaty with these tribes. 2nd.Another potent cause of their decay is to be found in the lossof their hunting grounds and in the destruction of that gameupon which the Indian subsists. This cause, always, powerful, has of greatly late increased. Until the white settlements crossed the the Indians could still find hunting grounds without limit, and game, especially buffalo, in great abundance upon the western plains. But the discovery of gold and silver in and Californi in all the mountain Territories, poured a flo of hardy and adventure us miners acrossthose plains, and into all the valleys and gorges of the mountains, from the east. 2 linesof railroad are rapidly crossing the plains, one by the valley of the Platte and the other by Smoky the Hill. They will soon reach the Rocky mountains crossing the center of the great buffalo range in 2 lines from east to west. It is to be doubted if the buffalo in his migrations will many times cross A railroad where trains are passingand repassing, and with the disappearance of the buffalo from this im mense region all the powerful tribes of the plains will inevitably disappear, and remain north of the Platte or south of the ansas. Another route further north, from Minnesota by the Upper Missouri, doriadn, oanreefpurrothjeecrtesdouatnhd, fwroillms AoroknabnesparsebssyetdhfeorCwaanrad. These will drive the last vestige of the buffalo from all the region eastof the Rocky mountains and put an end to the wild man's meansof life. On the other hand, the emigration from California and Oregoninto the Territories from the West ising everyvalley and gorge fill of the mountains with the most energeticand fearlessmen in the world. In those wild regions, where no istered, and where our miiitary hafosrecveesrh, baeveen sacdarmceinly penetrated, these adventurersarepraetically without any law except such as they impose uponthemselves, namely, the law of necessity and of self defense. Even after territorial governments are established over them in form by Congress the population is so sparse and the administration of the civil law so feeble that the people are practically without any glaowld but their own will. In their eager search for or fertile tracts of land the boundariesof Indian reservations nagrewawrhsoflolyllodwis, regarded; conflictsensue; in which the Indian is, o course, at the last overwhelmed if not destroyed. The question whether the Indian Bureau should be placed under the War Dept or retained in the Dept of the interior is one of considerable importance, and both sides have very warm advocates. Military men generally unite in recorn In endingthat change be made, while civilians, tench ers, missionaries, agents, and superintendents, and those not in the regular Army generally qopose it. The argumentsand objectionsurged by without force. eachare not The argument in favor of it is that in case of hostilities the military forcesmust assume control of our relations to the hostile tribes, and therefore it is better for the War Dept to have the entire control, both in peaceand in annuity goods war; 2ndly, that the and clothing paid to treaty stipulations Indians under will be more faithfully and honestly madeby officers of theregular Army, who bold their placesfor life, and are subject to military trials sfourpemriinseteondeunctts, tahpapnowinhteendmadeby the agents and under the interior dept; and 3rd ly, that it would prevent conflict between different Depts in the administration of their affairs. Upon the other side it is urged with great force that for the proper administration of Indian affairs there must be some officer of the Government whose employees of the duty it is to remain upon the reservations with the itnrigbgerso and look after their affairs; that astheir hunt are taken away the reservation system, which is the only alternative to their extermination, mustbe adopt When the Indians are once located cuompoenetshseemntiafalrmtoerasn, tyeaacthteemrsp, tanadt mcivisisliizoantaiornie, s are absolutely necessaryto take the 1st step to: wardchanging the wild hunter into a cultivator of the smooil, vetomcehnatonfgetrothoepssafrvoamgepine tsot taocpivoislitzies, domf an necessity, suddenand frequent, and, therefore, the officcehrasrogfethe Army, however competent, cannot take upon reosfertvhaetioanffsa, iarsnyalnodngienrterests of the Indians required than military force is as in the tcoacsoemofpethl the Navajo esstionre NewMexico, haenm during that time even proper and competent persons daectviontginags agents, farmers, teachers, and missionaries, their whole time to these occupations, can sAermrvye. that purpose much better than officersof the While it is true many agents, teachers, and em Government are inefficient, faithless, and even guilty of peculations and fraudulent praCtices upon the Government and upon the Indians, it isequallytrue that military posts among the Indians have frequently become centers of demoralization and destruction to the Indian tribes, while the blunders and want of discretion of inexperienced officers in command have brought on long and expensive wars, the cost of which, being included in the exyendituresof the Army, are never seen and realized the people of the s? peSnindciteuwreesaequired, NewMexico the military exconnected with Indian affairs have probably exceeded $4,000,000 annually in that Territory isie. When General Sumner was in command of thatdept he recommended the purchase of all the private property of citizens, and thesurrender of thatwholeTerritory to score the Indians, and upon the of economy it would doubtless have been a great saving to the Government. Butthat policy was not pursued, and there as well as elsewherethe reservation system has been adopted. That it hasand will cost the Governmentlarge sums of money is undoubtedly true, but in the end far less than the maintenange of forces sufficient to keep the peaceand suffer the Indians to range at will over the Territory.. When once adopted, however, the same necessity for. teachers, farmers and mis:sionaries arises, both upon the score of humanity only economy both to civilize the Indian and to teach him to raisehis subsistence fromthe soil. The Army and the officers of the Army are not by their habits and profession well adapted to this work. BuArneoatuh, er strong reason for retaining the Indian in the Dept of the interior is, that the making of treaties and the disposition of the lands and funds of the Indians, is of necessity intimately connected with our public land system, and, with all its important land questions, would seem to fDaellpnaarttmureanllty. under the jurisdiction of the interior coTnhfelictisn, conveniences arising from the occasional and jealousies, between officers appointed under the interior and War Depts are not without some benefits also: to someextenttheyserve aas cheek upon each other; neither areslow to point to the mistakes and abuses of the other. It is foreproper that they should be independent there of other, each receive their appointments from and report to different heads of Depts. Weighing this matter and all the arguments for and against the proposed change, your committee, are unanimously of w the opeinion that the Indian Bureau should remain it is. evIinls, ogurroIwnidnigan system beyond all doubt there are out of the nature of the case itself, whichcan never be remedied until the Indian race is civilized or shall entirely: The committee are satisfied that these evils are sometimes greatly aggravated, not so systemadopted by much by the the Government in dealing with theIndian tribes as by the abuses of that system. As the best means of correctingthose abusesand ameliorating those, evils the committeerecommend the sInudbidainvitsriiobnesofrethmea TinerinrittoorfiievseainnsdpeSetatitoensdwishterircetisn, and the appointment of 5 boards of inspection; and they earnestly recommend the passage of Senate bwiallsNuon.a1n8i8m, noouwslyperned cionmgm beefnodree the House. That bill, the joint special committee, and also recommended by the committees of both Houses upon Indian Affairs. It is certainly the most efficient mode of preventing these abuses whichthey have been able to devise. The following are the 4 important sections of the bill as recommended by the committee: SECTIox 1. Be it enacted by the Senate and HoRep of the U.S.A. in Congress assembled.That therebe, and is hereby, created 5 boards of inspection of indion affairs, each to consist o, f one asst, ComrIndAff to withthe advice and int consent of the President who sahnadll holi his office for the term of removedby the President: of noeur years, unless sooner to consist of an officer of theregular who maybe annually detailed y the secyWar for that purpose, and one to consist of a visitor, to be selected by the President from among such persons as may be recommended by the annual meetings or conventions of the religious societies or denominations of the U.S. as suitable persons to act uponsaid boards; or, in case of theirfailure to make, such recoumendation, from amongsuch persons as he shall deem proper." Each of said asst commissioners shall receive a salary of $3,00oper annum. besides necessary traveling expenses;and each of said Yisitors shall receive a salary of $2,000 per annum, es necessary traveling exreuses Sec. 2. Abife:, That there shall be established 5 inspection districts of affairs, Indian as follows: one to embrace the States of California and Nevadaand the Territory of Arizona; one to embracethe State of Oregon and the Territories of Washington and Idaho; one to embrace the territories of Colorado, Utah, and NewMexico: one to embrace the State of Kansas, the Indian Territory, Nebraska, and Southern Dakota; and one to embrace the State of Minnesota and that part of the Territory of Dakota north of Nebraska, and the Territory of Montana: Provided, however, That the SecyInterior, under the direction of the President; may from time to time changethe boundaries of Indian inspection districts. said Sec. 3. Abife: That it shall be the duty of said boards of inspection, so far as it is practicable, to respectivedistrvicistist all the Indian tribeswithin their at lost once in eachyear: to examine into their condition; to hear their complaints; to Preservepeaceand amity; to thestipulations of treaties on thaescpearrttaoinf wthheetUhneirteadll Statesare kept; to examine into the books, accounts, and manner of doing business of the superintendents and agentswithin their respectivedistricts; to make diligent inquiry into, the conduct of employees the officersand of the Indian dept, and into the conduct of the military forces toward the Indians, with power to summonwitnesses, and, by the aid of the military, who are hereby directed to aid them, to compel their attendance;cachmember of o, hereby said board authorized to administer oaths; and said board shall be authorized to suspendfor cause any officer or employee of the Indian dept in their respectivedistricts, and to office, subject remove them from to the approval of the President. And said board shall report annually, or as often as may be required, to the ComrIndAff; and in all cases of suspension or by said board of any officeror emrepmlooyveeaolf ftrhoemIne dtiaicne dept, said board shall make immediatereport thereon in writing, stating the cause thereof, for the action of the President. Soc. 4. Abife:, That all superin tendents of asst, Indian affairs, all Indian agents, and the commissioners to act, be appointedunder this in addition to the powersnow conferredby law, shall also possessall the powersand perform all the duties now conferred by missioners, law upon circuit court comor court commissioners in all cases orterswherein any Indian tribe or any memberofmaanty Indian tribe shall be concernedor beothat and in all mattersor proceedingswhereinany Indian tribe or member of an Indian tribe shall beconcerned or a party the testimonyof Indian witnesses shall be received in all courts and before all officers of the U.S. The purpose of the bill is to provide boards of high character, and to organize them in such a manner and to clothe them with such powers as to supervise and inspect the whole administration of Indian affairs in catiitosnatih.reefold character civil, military, and edu To the position of chief of this board thereshould be appointed an asst commissioner, with a sal ary sufficient to command the servicesof a man of characterand great ability, whosewholetime is to be devoted to this important work. Oneof the board is to be an officer of the regular Army, to be assignedby the SecyWar; (it is believed that he would be an officer of high standing in the Army;) and a 3rd is to be selected from among those personswho maybe namedby the great Irteligious conventionsor bodiesof the U.S. is impossible to believe that these great bodies could nameany other than a man of high character and great ability. such a board not organized upon political grounds at all, and possessing, as they will, the important powers conferred in the 3rd section of this bill, will, in the judgment of moreto secure the faithful administhtreatcioomnmofitIntedeia, dno sauffgagiressttehda.n any other measure which has been The asst commissionerwill report to the SecyInterior; the officer of the Army to SecyWar; and the 3rd will report noto to the Government, but to may have recommended histhaaptproeinligtmioeunstb.odTyhuwshtiche treatment of the Indians by the civil authorities, by the military authorities, and by their teachers and missionaries will be subject to constant inspection and supervision. It is urged that, the expenses of be considerable; but these boardswill in comparisonwith the greater economy and efficiency their supervision would secure, that expense will be comparatively trifling.. thSinugesh, boards, charged with the duty, among other to Preserve annity, will doubtlesssometimes savethe Government from unnecessary and expen sive Indian wars. As an instance bearing upon this point, when that portion of duty of inqtuhierincogminmtoitttheee wcohnodwiteiorencohfaIrngdeidanwiathffathires in Kansas, NewMexico, and Colorado, arrived at Fort Larned, theyfoundthat the officerthere in command had just issuedan order to his troops to cross the Arkansas, going south into an Indian territory, where not, a single white man lived, to upon make war the Camanches, a most powerfultribe, which roamsoverall that region fromthe Arkansas to Mexico., Your committee felt that such an expedition would of necessity bring on a long war with that tribe; that it the responsible wilaitsywohfolalydvuinsninegceGsesnaeryra, alnMd cthCeoyotko, ok a member of the staff of General Pope, who accompa nied them, to countermand that order until he communicatewith General Pope could at StLouis. The order wasopuntermanded;the troopsthen in motion. were recalled; and thus by the mero Presenceand advice of the committee, a Camauches, which, war was avoided with the had it once begun, would not have been prosecuted to a successful termination without an expenditure of $20,000,000. Your committeetook the testimony among others, of Colonel Ford, then in command at Fort Larned, upon this subject. He says, speaking of the Calnun clies: " From the best information 1 can get, there are about 7,000 warriors well mounted, solneon fleet Texan horses. On horsebackthey are the finest skirmishers I eversaw. How 'i'. mountedand infantry, would be required to deten theSanta Fee road and wage a successfulwar against the Indians south of the Arkansas'? It wouldrequire at least 10,000 men 4,000 constantly in the field, well mounted; the line of defense to extend from Fort Lyon to Fort Riley, and south about 300 miles. All supplies would have to coinefromthe States. Contract pricefor corn deliv ered at this point was$526 per bushel.” With corn at suptphliisesenorine us price, and hay and wood and all in proportion, the expense of war such an Indian is beyondbelief. By many it was estimatedthat such a war would have required at men, least 10,000 and a war of 2 or 3 years' duration, to unake it successful, with an expenditure of 30 morethan million dollars. It is believedthat such boards of inspection, thus organized and composed of the menwho should be appointed to manyuselessfwilal rtshweimth, cthoueldIndsaiavnes, thaendcoseucnutrrye. Iron in all branches of fidelity. the Indian service greaterefficiency and If $150,000 annually, boards should cost the Government and should avert but one indian war in ten, years, still, upon the score of alone, economy per the Government would be repaid 500 cent. The appendix has already been published, and the report as soon as published will be placed upon the desks of Senators with the appendix.