The Indians at these agencies have been kept in a state of constant agitation for more than a year by the singular delay of Congress in making appropriations for the Indian service, and by the scantiness of the appropriations when made. For the Malhewr Agency in Oregon, the Indians of which have gone to war, the appropriation was $50,000 in 1873, and $40,000 for the two successive years; but in 1876 it was reduced to $25,000, and in 1877 to $20,000. The agent begged that if Congress intended to persist in this course it would build a saw and grist-mill for the Indians, but it was not done. At the Fort Hall and Lemhi Agency in Idaho, where the present uprising began, the Indians were nearly starved by the government. About 500 had to leave Fort Hall to hunt up a subsistence for themselves; and last May the agent at Lemhi was studying how to remove the band to a new location, to protect it from the government. The outbreak on the part of the Nez Percès, a year ago, did not affect these Indians at the time. They all remained quiet and loyal, but they have had their own troubles since, and have grown impatient at the failure of the government to feed them. The present outbreak began the latter part of May, when Buffalo Horn, a noted scout, took out 200 Bannocks, and camped in the lava beds between Big Camas Prairie and Snake River, in the southern part of Idaho. The news of this rising spread over Idaho and Eastern Oregon very quickly, and, in a fortnight’s time, all the Indians of that region were in a state of excitement, and began raiding the valleys and driving off and killing stock by the hundred head. The United States troops in that region consisted of a few companies of cavalry and infantry, scattered about the two territories at the military posts. This was an insufficient protection, and the citizens of Boise City, in Idaho, Walla-Walla, in Oregon, Camp Harney and elsewhere, formed themselves into volunteer companies for active operations. About June 1, Colonel Bernard, with seventy cavalry and twenty citizens, started on a forced march to Big Camas Prairie. The Indians did not await them there, but began moving westward along Idaho River in straggling bands, dining off the stock and killing occasional settlers on the march. Howard sent orders at once to Bernard to return, which he did, pursuing the Bannocks into the Owyhee country in the southeast corner of Oregon. One incident of this movement on the part of the Indians was a fight between seventeen citizens and about 100 Indians, about June 6, in which two volunteers and eight Indians were killed.