several citizens and other acts of
unequivocal hostility committed by a party of the Winnebago tribe, one
of those associated in the treaty, followed by indications of a menacing
character among other tribes of the same region, rendered necessary an
immediate display of the defensive and protective force of the Union in
that quarter. It was accordingly exhibited by the immediate and
concerted movements of the governors of the State of Illinois and of the
Territory of Michigan, and competent levies of militia, under their
authority, with a corps of 700 men of United States troops, under the
command of General Atkinson, who, at the call of Governor Cass,
immediately repaired to the scene of danger from their station at St.
Louis. Their presence dispelled the alarms of our fellow-citizens on
those borders, and overawed the hostile purposes of the Indians. The
perpetrators of the murders were surrendered to the authority and
operation of our laws, and every appearance of purposed hostility from
those Indian tribes has subsided.

Although the present organization of the Army and the administration of
its various branches of service are, upon the whole, satisfactory, they
are yet susceptible of much improvement in particulars, some of which
have been heretofore submitted to the consideration of Congress, and
others are now first presented in the report of the Secretary of War.

The expediency of providing for additional numbers of officers in the
two corps of engineers will in some degree depend upon the number and
extent of the objects of national importance upon which Congress may
think it proper that surveys should be made conformably to the act of
the 30th of April, 1824. 'Of the surveys which before the last session
of Congress had been made under the authority of that act, reports were
made--

1. Of the Board of Internal Improvement, on the Chesapeake and Ohio
Canal.

2. On the continuation of the national road from Cumberland to the tide
waters within the district of Columbia.

3. On the continuation of the national road from Canton to Zanesville.

4. On the location of the national road from Zanesville to Columbus.

5. On the continuation of the same to the seat of government in
Missouri.

6. On a post-road from Baltimore to Philadelphia.

7. Of a survey of Kennebec River (in part).

8. On a national road from Washington to Buffalo.

9. On the survey of Saugatuck Harbor and River.

10. On a canal from