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REPORT OF THE 
and the murder of their principal chief, IIFontenelle."  By the latest
accounts they were encamped on the Platte river, about fifteen miles 
from Bellevue. It is hoped that the exertions of their agent, and the 
knowledge that a large military force is now traversing the plains, 
will reassure, and induce them to return. The Ottoes and Missourias, 
when last heard from, remained undisturbed on their reserve, and it 
is believed will so continue. The Pawnees, alarmed by the frequent 
attacks of their numerous enemies, anxiously desire to exchange the 
lands assigned to them, on the north side of the Platte, for a location 
south of that river, so as to place it as a barrier between them and 
their assailants. The condition of these three last named tribes, har- 
rassed as they have been by the incursions of hostile bands of Sioux, 
*Cheyennes, &c., will, it is feared, be one of great destitution this
coming winter and spring. Your instructions, in anticipation of such 
a result, have been communicated to their agent, and will, doubtless, 
receive his prompt attention. 
As heretofore reported, the annuity goods for the Comanches, Kio- 
ways, and Apaches, and for the tribes parties to the treaty of Fort 
Laramie, within the Upper Arkansas and Upper Platte agencies, were 
forwarded from this place to Kansas city, Missouri, on the 24th and 
and 28th of May last; they were taken in charge of the land trans- 
portation trains in the month of June, and safely conveyed to their 
respective destinations. The report of the Arkansas agent will show 
how those of his agency were disposed of. No report having yet been 
received from the Up.per Platte agent, it is not known here how far 
he has succeeded in making the distribution to the Indians of his 
agency. 
The annuity goods for the Upper Missouri agency, together with 
the goods and provisions intended for the Blackfeet council, were 
forwarded on the 6th of June last, per steamboat "St. Mary."  Su-
perintendent Cumming and his party left here on the same boat on 
his way to Fort Benton, the rendezvous designated for himself, Gov- 
ernor Stevens, and    Superintendent Palmer, the    commissioners 
appointed to hold the council and, if expedient, make treaties with the 
Blackfeet and other mountain tribes. The boat arrived at Fort Union, 
near the mouth of the Yellow Stone river, on the 11th of July fol- 
lowing. 
The report of the Upper Missouri agent, forwarded yesterday, will 
inform you of his success in distributing the annuities. With the 
exception of a few bands of disaffected Sioux, he reports the tribes of 
his agency to be generally friendly and well disposed towards the 
government, and that several of them have scrupulously observed the 
stipulations of the treaty made with them at Fort Laramie; his expec- 
tations of being able to induce the refractory bands to resume their 
friendly relations with the whites will, it is apprehended, be frustrated
by the recent military demonstration against the Brule Sioux on the 
plains. 
Superintendent Cunming, as I have had the honor to inform you 
in another communication of this date, started with a small party 
from Fort Union for Fort Benton overland, and arrived there in safety, 
where he met Governor Stevens and upwards of two thousand moun- 
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