at the time this was done and apparently, when apprised of it, made some objections on the score, not so much of an invasion of his own prerogative, as of its probable effect upon Hunter.  Cameron had his first consultation with Lane regarding the matter, January second, and was given by him to understand that everything had been done in strict accordance with Hunter’s own wishes.[152] The practical question of the relation of Lane’s brigade to Hunter’s command soon, however, presented itself in a somewhat different light and its answer required a more explicit statement from the president than had yet been made.  Lincoln, when appealed to, unhesitatingly repudiated every suggestion of the idea that it had ever been his intention to give Lane an independent command or to have Hunter, in any sense, superseded.[153]

The need for sending relief to the southern Indians, which, correctly interpreted meant, of course, reasserting authority over them and thus removing a menacing and impending danger from the Kansas border, had been one of Lane’s strongest arguments in gaining his way with the administration.  The larger aspect of his purpose was, however, the one that appealed to Commissioner Dole, who, as head of the Indian Bureau, seems fully to have appreciated the responsibility that

[Footnote 151:  (cont.) who has been in waiting for several months to take the place.”—­Daily Conservative, January 1, 1862.

“Rejoicing in Neosho Battalion over report that Lane appointed to command Kansas troops.”—­Ibid., January 4, 1862.

“General Lane will soon be here and General Denver called to another command.”—­Ibid., January 7, 1862.]

[Footnote 152:  Cameron to Hunter, January 3, 1862, Official Records, vol. liii, supplement, 512-513.]

[Footnote 153:  Martin F. Conway, the Kansas representative in Congress, was under no misapprehension as to Lane’s true position; for Lincoln had told him personally that Lane was to be under Hunter [Daily Conservative, February 6, 1862].]

assuredly rested in all honor upon the government, whether conscious of it or not, to protect its wards in their lives and property.  From the first intimation given him of Lane’s desire for a more energetic procedure, Dole showed a willingness to cooeperate; and, as many things were demanding his personal attention in the West, he so timed a journey of his own that it might be possible for him to assist in getting together the Indian contingent that was to form a part of the “Southern Expedition."[154]

The urgency of the Indian call for help[155] and the

[Footnote 154:  Lane’s expedition was variously referred to as “the Southern Expedition,” “the Cherokee Expedition,” “the great jayhawking expedition,” and by many another name, more or less opprobrious.]