LETTER OF GENERAL HARNEY.
HEADQUARTERS, DEPARTMENT OF OREGON.
Fort Vancouver, W.T., June 1, 1859.
SIR:-I have the honor to report, for the information of the general-in-chief, the arrival at this place, on the 28th ultimo, of a deputation of Indian chiefs from the
''upper Pend-d'Oreilles, lower Pend-d'Oreilles, Flatheads, Spokans, Colville, and Coeur-d'Alene Indians, on a visit, sugggested by myself through the kind offices ofthe Reverend Father De Smet, who has been with these tribes the past winter, and has counselled them, both as an agent of the Government and in his clerical capacity, as to the advantages accruing to them by preserving peaceable and friendly relations with the whites at all times.
These chiefs have all declared to me the friendly desires which now animate them towards our people, and they assure me that their own several tribes are all anxiously awaiting their return, to confirm the peace and good-will they are hereafter determined to preserve and maintain. Two of these chiefs,-one of the upper Pend-d'Oreilles and the other of the Flatheads,-report that the proudest boast of their respective tribes, is the fact that no white man's blood has ever been shed by any one of either nation. This statement is substantiated by Father De Smet. The chiefs of the other tribes mentioned, state their people now regret they had been so deceived and deluded as to go to war with the whites the past year. They tender the most earnest assurances that such will never be the case again. All of these chiefs assert there will be no difficulty for the future as regards the whites travelling through their country, or in the occupation of it.
They request the Government to secure a reservation to their people, upon which they desire to live and be protected.
Kamiakin, the noted chief of the Yakimas, came in with these chiefs as far as Fort Walla-walla, with the intention of surrendering himself to my custody, but in consequence of an officious interference with these Indians on the part of Mr. T -, agent for the Flatheads, Kamiakin became alarmed, and returned to his people. No censure is to be attached to Kamiakin for this act, and I have caused him to be notified that I am satisfied with his present peaceful intentions. . . . .
I have also the honor to inclose a copy of Father De Smet's report as to the Indian tribes he has visited the past winter, which shows that peace exists among themselves as well as with the whites; and from my own observation I am convinced that with proper care, another Indian war of any magnitude cannot soon occur in this department.
It gives me pleasure to commend to the general-in-chief the able and efficient services the Reverend Father De Smet has rendered.
I am, sir, very respectfully, Your obedient servent,
W.S. HARNEY, Brigadier-general commanding.
ASSISTANT ADJUTANT-GENERAL,
Headquarters of the Army, N.Y. City.