I have just replyed in a Dispatch, that the Gov. has no Com. here and has had none. I suppose you have been Tehlegraphed that there was a Com. and that for mischief. Now the following are the facts in the case as far as I have been able to learn them. On Saturday or Sunday last there came a young man by the name of Gains called Dr. Gains from Little Rock. He stated his object was to visit the Indian Tribes west of this to cultivate with them friendly Relations and stated moreover that he was authorized to do so by the Gov. of Arkansas. When I returned your Dispatch I went to Dr. Gains and asked him in the presents of witnesses if he was acting as Com. for the Gov. of Arkansas he replyed that he was not, and now Sir I am sorry to learn to day that a rumor is afloat that I am here to aid in taking this post & that by having Troops sent from here to weaken the forces. Nothing can be more false. In the first place, the Citizens have no Disposition to interfere with this post in any way and the truth is I see no persons but the Officers and I will not judge of their motives. Them and myself are all friendly as far as I know except it may be they object to a Speach I made here on Monday night last. I can say and prove by all the best citizens of the Place that my remarks were mild and conciliatory and could not be objectionable to any true Southern man this the citizens of the City will bare me out, the truth is the only objection they could make to my speech was that it was unanswerable. I told you the same when in Washington. I appeal to the Citizens for the truth of what I say. I desire troops to protect the Cherokees from Abolition forays from Kansas & the Neutral land. I am told that there are three times the No. of Intruders now that there was there last fall and that violent threats have been made by Kansas. In the next place I can do nothing without Troops there and a No. of lawless murderers in the Nation that cannot without Troops, and I told you those things when with you last and in addition to the above facts the Troops can live and support quite as comfortable and for less money out there than they can here.--Indian Office, General Files, _Cherokee, 1859-1865_. [179] The proof appeared in the correspondence of John B. Ogden, commissioner of the district court of the United States for the western district of Arkansas. On March 4, 1861, Ogden wrote from Van Buren to the Secretary of the Interior the following letter: