390 INCIDENTS AT 
predatory bands which are now desolating that coun- 
try. The policy of concentration is a pernicious one, 
and can have but one result: it will stimulate their 
fondness for war, and render necessary an armed and 
an annihilating protection to our citizens. Besides 
this, there is but little game in that country, and the 
arable lands could not support such numbers as would 
be brought into it if the plan should be carried out. 
The only excursion I was able to make, while 
waiting for the train to be got ready, was to Fort 
Fillmore. Towards the close of September, Colonel 
Langberg of the Mexican army, and military inspector 
of the frontier, proposed to me to visit Colonel Miles, 
commanding at that Fort; I gladly took advantage of 
the opportunity. 
On the day appointed I took my carriage, and, 
accompanied by Colonel Langberg, Dr. Webb, Mr. H. 
Jacobs, and ten dragoons, set off for Fort Fillmore, 
about 45 miles distant from El Paso; which we reach- 
ed at sunset, and where we were politely received by 
Colonel Miles and the officers with him. 
This Fort was established in 1851, when the 
military posts at Dofia Ana and Hl Paso were aban- 
doned; as it was thought that its position was 
better than either of those, and that it would be 
sufficient for this frontier. It contained at the time 
of our visit about two hundred soldiers, infantry and 
dragoons, under the command of Colonel Miles of the 
3d Infantry. It occupied a commanding position 
above the bottom-lands ; whence the valley of the Rio 
Grande can be seen for many miles. Nearly opposite 
is the town of Mesilla: and extending above and 
