I received the following from Sec. Stanton,

WAR DEPARTMENT,

Washington City, August 12, 1865-9. 30 a. m.

Lieutenant-General GRANT,

Detroit:

The President is much concerned about the Indian expedition. The Secretary of the Treasury declares his inability to meet an expenditure so large and unexpected, and not sanctioned by the Government. Have You any information to relieve the President’s anxiety or to satisfy him as to the object and design of the expedition? Who planned it? Whether Sherman has reduced it any, and its probable results. Please answer speedily, and state when You expect to return to Washington.

EDWIN M. STANTON,

Secretary of War.

I replied,

DETROIT, MICH., August 12, 1865-2 p. m.

Honorable E. M. STANTON,

Secretary of War:

I have heard nothing from Sherman in answer to my dispatch directing a reduction of forces in the Northwest, and for him to look into the Indian expeditions and curtail them. They have been planned under General Pope’s direction, and I am not posted as to the necessity of them. I will go to Saint Louis in a few days and look into this matter myself. In the meantime I think all extraordinary requisitions should be disapproved. I will not go back to Washington for some weeks.

U. S. GRANT,

Lieutenant-General.

The Papers of Ulysses S Grant, Vol 15, p 296

O.R., I, xlviii, part 2, p 1178-9