clear that the Ca,l<loes, or any part of the other tribes usually resident on our side of the national boundary were among the offenders. The evidence is, however, sufficient lo justify an immediate investigation of the matter, which I shall direct, as soon as some troops of the United States dragoons, which I have ordered from Fort Towson, Upper Red river, lo this place, shall arrive. They are expected here in the present week. In the interim, I have to request the favor of you to obtain and transmit lo the officer commanding a detachment of United Stales troops at or near Nacogdoches whatever additional information may be in your power; and name the distances from place to place, and the persons on the road to whom you would refer, as men of honesty and truth, for such information as lo the topography and character of the coun~ry, its means of subsistence for man and horse; and as to the latest movements, most recent position of the lndians, their probable number, how armed, and whether mounted or otherwise; and whether Bowles or any of the Cherokees, Delawares, Shawnees, Kiekapoos, Saxes, or Foxes, were concerned with the Caddoes and Camanches in the late murders. I advise you to build a block-house or two, and have them enclosed with picketing, at or near the centre of every settlement, in a commanding position convenient to water, and supply them with arms, ammunition, and subsistence, and make it the duty of every man and every spirited lady (such, for example, as the lady of Major Buchanan, near Nashville, Tennessee) to guard them by turns; and in this way you will not fail to keep the Indians at a respectable distance, as did our fathers of Tennessee. I am, very respectfully, yours, &c.
Edmund P. Gaines
Major Sterling C. Robertson,
Robertson's colony, Texas.
A lrue copy: George A. McCall,.Aid de-camp, &c.
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