cts great credit on
the officers who were intrusted with the execution of these orders, as
well as upon the discipline of the Army itself. To be in strength to
protect and defend the people and territory of Texas in the event Mexico
should commence hostilities or invade her territories with a large army,
which she threatened, I authorized the general assigned to the command
of the army of occupation to make requisitions for additional forces
from several of the States nearest the Texan territory, and which could
most expeditiously furnish them, if in his opinion a larger force than
that under his command and the auxiliary aid which under like
circumstances he was authorized to receive from Texas should be
required. The contingency upon which the exercise of this authority
depended has not occurred. The circumstances under which two companies
of State artillery from the city of New Orleans were sent into Texas and
mustered into the service of the United States are fully stated in the
report of the Secretary of War. I recommend to Congress that provision
be made for the payment of these troops, as well as a small number of
Texan volunteers whom the commanding general thought it necessary to
receive or muster into our service.

During the last summer the First Regiment of Dragoons made extensive
excursions through the Indian country on our borders, a part of them
advancing nearly to the possessions of the Hudsons Bay Company in the
north, and a part as far as the South Pass of the Rocky Mountains and
the head waters of the tributary streams of the Colorado of the West.
The exhibition of this military force among the Indian tribes in those
distant regions and the councils held with them by the commanders of the
expeditions, it is believed, will have a salutary influence in
restraining them from hostilities among themselves and maintaining
friendly relations between them and the United States. An interesting
account of one of these excursions accompanies the report of the
Secretary of War. Under the directions of the War Department Brevet
Captain Fremont, of the Corps of Topographical Engineers, has been
employed since 1842 in exploring the country west of the Mississippi and
beyond the Rocky Mountains. Two expeditions have already been brought to
a close, and the reports of that scientific and enterprising officer
have furnished much interesting and valuable information. He is now
engaged in a third expedition, but it is no