about reprisals, and the promised extermination will likewise follow inevitably. I hope to see these poor tribes again soon.
Reverend and Dear Father: 3
Your most dear letter of the 27th of March last, with the beautiful and fraternal note of the venerable Father Tranqueville, have reached me safely. They come to surprise and console me amid the mournful and savage wilderness in which I find myself at present, the desolation of which seems still more sombre and terrible by reason of the war of vengeance and retaliation which has been raging with fury between the whites and the Indians for the past four years. I have just received your good letters, at this great distance from St. Louis, by the mail-post, or express. They will be to me an encouragement and a consolation, in my long and dangerous mission and excursion among the nomadic tribes of this vast region. I hasten to reply, with the most sincere gratitude, taking advantage also of the present occasion to commend myself, as well as the conversion of all the Indian tribes, in a most special manner, to your holy sacrifices and your good prayers. 4
3 Written in French and dated on board the steamer Ontario at Fort Benton, Mont., June io, 1866. To whom addressed not stated. From the Linton Album, p. 82 et seq.
4 Passport from General Sherman to Father De Smet: Headquarters Military Division of the Mississippi, St. Louis, Mo., April 9, 1866.
All officers of the Army within this Military Division are required, and all citizens are requested to extend to the bearer of this letter, the Reverend Father De Smet, a Catholic Priest who has heretofore traveled much among the Rocky Mountains and is now en route for missions under his control, all the assistance and protection they can to enable him to fulfill his benevolent and humane purposes.
He has always been noted for his strict fidelity to the interests of our Government, for indefatigable industry and an enthusiastic love for the Indians under his charge.
W. T. SHERMAN, Maj.-Gen.