WASHINGTON, _January 16, 1855_.
_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:
I transmit herewith a letter of the Secretary of War upon the subject of
Indian hostilities. The employment of volunteer troops, as suggested by
the Secretary, seems to afford the only practicable means of providing
for the present emergency.
There is much reason to believe that other cases similar in character
to those particularly referred to in the accompanying papers will at
an early day require vigorous measures and the exhibition of a strong
military force. The proposed temporary provision to meet a special
demand, so far from obviating, in my judgment only serves to illustrate
the urgent necessity of an increase of the Regular Army, at least to
the extent recommended in my late annual message. Unless by the plan
proposed, or some other equally effective, a force can be early brought
into the field adequate to the suppression of existing hostilities, the
combination of predatory bands will be extended and the difficulty of
restoring order and security greatly magnified. On the other hand,
without a permanent military force of sufficient strength to control
the unfriendly Indians, it may be expected that hostilities will soon
be renewed and that years of border warfare will afflict the country,
retarding the progress of settlement, exposing emigrant trains to savage
barbarities and consuming millions of the public money.
The state of things made known in various letters recently received
at the War Department, extracts from a portion of which are herewith
inclosed, is calculated to augment the deep solicitude which this matter
has for some time past awakened, and which has been earnestly expressed
in previous messages and in the annual reports of the Secretary of War.
I respectfully submit that the facts now communicated urgently call for
immediate action on the part of Congress.