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3.

    Then too the great object now is to get these people, the Kiowas, Comanches & Apaches so far South that they will not join the Cheyennes & Arapahoes in the war.  Is it not better that they should be south of the Washita, twenty miles south of it, around the mountains, than here.              Here game is scarce and beef has to be given them, there buffalo are plenty and will be all the winter.   We know that they can be kept out of Texas better with the troops there, than here.
    But aside from all reasons why it is better for these Indians to be collected near a post there than one here -- the advantages of that location over this, as a position for a permanent military post, must be well remembered.  That is somewhere, this is nowhere, out of the way.    Think of the difference as a defensible position, and as regards health, the water, the air, the wood, and also the grass.    The latter point should be especially borne in mind, as it is probable that post will be chiefly garrisoned by cavalry.    There the grass is superb, the grazing good even in mid winter, here there is no good grass at the best season, and no grazing now at all, even the Indians say their ponies cannot live here.   During the last month since the troops came here, several parties have at the invitation of the District Commander been to examine the grass in the country