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2

^[[9216/2]] 

[[round, blue ink stamp]]
SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION.
JAN 25 1867
[[/round, blue ink stamp]]

actively in such preparations for the further movements of the [[strikethrough]]party[[/strikethrough]] Expedition as circumstances would permit me to make.  The Barque Golden Gate arrived Sep 15  from which time till the 18 we [[strikethrough]]have been[[/strikethrough]] ^[[were]] mostly employed in securing from destruction or trying to make available for the purposes of our Expedition an outfit in the main improperly selected negligently protected and hastily delivered here before Mr Bean or myself even knew what was coming. - Entailing upon us at this critical season delay that has been caused by others and work that should have been done or prevented before you arrived here.  Thus we have as  yet had but two days in which we could devote any considerable part of our time to organization and preparations for our Expedition.

This ^[[will soon be sufficiently complete to permit us to leave.]] [[strikethrough]]is nearly finished [[/strikethrough]] P- Under such circumstances it is ^[[but]] a simple act of justice for me to commend highly your energy and integrity in accomplishing so much in so short a time.  I must thank you too, for your patience and kindness in bearing the hard trials I have put upon you ^[[while endeavoring to obtain order from this chaos]] and for your trust and confidence in a leader who has pursued what may seem to you a far too unusual and singular policy in regard to discipline

The following are the orders and instructions received by me as commander of this Expedition

[[embossed stamp lower left corner - illegible]]

Transcription Notes:
- "^" not necessary in front of "[[". Transcriber meant it as the insertion character and not to denote change to handwriting. - no extra spaces in the original - "P-" was actually a paragraph mark - embossed stamp looks like a government building, so it may actually be associated with the Smithsonian.