Ely Parker’s Report on Indian Affairs to the War Department (1867)

Document Text

HEADQUARTERS ARMIES OF THE UNITED STATES

Washington City, January 25, 1867

General: In compliance with your request, I have the honor to submit the following proposed plan for the establishment of a permanent and perpetual peace, and for settling all matters of differences between the United States and the various Indian tribes.

I am, very respectfully, your obedient servant,

E.S. PARKER

Colonel and Aide-de-Camp

General U.S. Grant

Commanding armies of the United States.

First. The retransfer of the Indian bureau from the Interior Department back to the War Department, or military branch of the government, where it originally belonged, until within the last few years.

The condition and disposition of all the Indians west of the Mississippi river, as developed in consequence of the great and rapid influx of immigration by reason of the discovery of the precious metals throughout the entire west, renders it of the utmost importance that military supervision should be extended over...