of the friendly Indians in that quarter to submit to the agent, and
remove at his instance to Port Orford, I returned with my com
mand to Empire City on the first day of April.
A portion of the Indians at the forks of the Coquille deserted their camps and fled to the mountains to avoid being removed by the agent ; and as was then believed, joined the disaffected TJmp- quas and Cow-creeks scouting upon the waters of the north fork. On the sixteenth of April I set out with a detachment of thirty men, with sufficient supplies for a thorough campaign in that quarter. Making headquarters at Burton s prairie, I sent an ex press to Mr. Seth Lount of Port Orford (then at Coquille, and acting in the service of the Indian agent at Port Orford ), in view of securing the removal of the Indians, with information that I was proceeding against the disaffected Indians ( Coquilles and others ), in the mountains. He sent a friendly Indian with the news that " the Coquilles had better come in, or they would be killed." On the receipt of this information the Coquilles came in, and the others removed their encampment and fled. Finding that the Indians were on the alert, and circumstances being unfavorable to any further pursuit, I returned with my command to Empire City on the twenty-seventh of April.
Learning that the agent was on his way with the Coquille In dians to Port Orford, and fearing that his forces might not be suffi cient to prevent a possible effort to escape on part of the Indians at the mouth of the Coquille, I detached, on the twenty-eighth of April, ten men to the aid of that undertaking, which detachment returned to quarters the eighth of May. Having received informa tion from the Coos bay Indians that a number of the Coquille In dians had stolen away from the reserve at Port Orford, and were hidden near Coos bay, I sent, April twenty-eight, under command of Lieutenant Foley, a detachment of twelve men with instructions of reduce the fugitives to obedience. The lieutenant with his com mand succeeded in capturing the squad, which consisted of eight men, six women, and three children, which where secured to the proper authorities and forwarded to Port Orford, May second. Meanwhile, I have furnished numerous escorts necessary for the protection of the quartermaster and commissary s stores, with their trains and other means of transportation from the Umpqua to this place, and also from Eugene City to Port Orford.
The state of Indian affairs in this section of the coast country is by no means of a settled nature. The Coos bay Indians have here tofore acted in the most trustworthy manner. But the effort of the agent in the removal to the mouth of the Umpqua is attended with dissatisfaction on part of a large proportion of their number. They understood, in their treaty with General Palmer, that they would be permitted to remain on the bay for two years after the time of treating before their removal. A part of the Indians have consented
