[Footnote 213:  May 14, 1862 [Ibid., vol. iii, part i, supplement, 249].]

[Footnote 214:—­Ibid., vol. liii, supplement, 520.]

[Footnote 215:  “It is stated that the commission of Gen. Sturgis is dated April 10 and that of Gen. Denver Aug. 14 and consequently Gen. Sturgis is the ranking officer in this military District.”—­Daily Conservative, April 10, 1862.]

The elimination of Kansas as a separate department marked the revival of interest in an Indian expedition.  The cost of supporting so huge a body of refugees had really become a serious proposition and, as Colonel C. R. Jennison[216] had once remarked, it would be economy to enlist them.[217] Congress had provided that certain Indian annuity money might be diverted to their maintenance,[218] but that fund was practically exhausted before the middle of March.[219] As already observed, the refugees very much wished to assist in the recovery of Indian Territory.[220] In fact they were determined to go south if the army went and their disappointment was likely to be most keen in the event of its and their not going.[221] It was under circumstances such as these that Commissioner Dole recommended to Secretary Smith, March 13, 1862, that he

Procure an order from the War Department detailing two Regiment of Volunteers from Kansas to go with the Indians to their homes and to remain there for their protection as long (as) may be necessary, also to furnish two thousand stand of arms and ammunition to be placed in the hands of the loyal Indians.

Dole’s unmistakable earnestness carried the day.  Within less than a week there had been promised[222] him all that he had asked for and more, an

[Footnote 216:  Jennison, so says the Daily Conservative, March 25, 1862, had been ordered with the First Cavalry to repair to Humboldt at the time the Indian Expedition was under consideration the first of the year and was brevetted acting brigadier for the purpose of furthering Dole’s intentions.]

[Footnote 217:  Daily Conservative, February 18, 1862.]

[Footnote 218:  Congressional Globe, 37th congress, second session, part i, 835, 878.]

[Footnote 219:  Dole to Smith, March 13, 1862 [Indian Office Report Book, no. 12, 331-332].]

[Footnote 220:  Coffin to Dole, March 3, 1862 [Ibid., Consolidated Files, Southern Superintendency, C 1544 of 1862; Letters Registered, no. 58].]

[Footnote 221:  Daily Conservative, March 5, 1862.]

[Footnote 222:  Commissioner of Indian Affairs, Report, 1862, 148.]

expeditionary force of two white regiments and two[223] thousand Indians, appropriately armed.  To expedite matters and to obviate any difficulties that might otherwise beset the carrying out of the plan, a semi-confidential agent, on detail from the Indian Office, was sent west with despatches[224] to Halleck and with an order[225] from the Ordnance Department for the delivery, at Fort Leavenworth, of the requisite arms.  The messenger was Judge James Steele, who, upon reaching St. Louis, had already discouraging news to report to Dole.  He had interviewed Halleck and had found him in anything but a helpful mood, notwithstanding that he must, by that time, have received and reflected upon the following communication from the War Department: