Head Quarters Dept. of the Pacific
San Francisco 29th March 1854
My Dear General;
I give you many thanks for your favor of the 18th ultimo.
I am gratified to learn that there is a prospect of an increase of the Army. Our Empire is very large, and a large proportion requires military protection and none more than California, Oregon, and Washington. For California, Oregon, Washington and Utah we have less than one thousand troops. Almost every mail brings us information of some outrage by either the Whites or the Indians. Generally the latter are quiet and peaceably inclined, but are frequently goaded to acts of cruelty by the conduct of the Whites, of whom many consider them no better than wolves, and apparently take as much pleasure in killing them as they would the latter. With almost innumerable tribes of Indians dispersed throughout the Pacific Department, embracing the country above mentioned, some of which are warlike & troublesome, with emigrants in large numbers daily encroaching upon them & dispossessing them of their lands, it is scarcely possible to preserve the peace of the country without a much larger military force than I have under my command at the present time.
…General John E. Wool to General Joseph Lane