Georgetown weekly news., 1855-05-24
Indian War on the Plains.

Indian War on the Plains.
Colonel Benton, who keeps we'll informed
upon Western affairs, declares, in a letter to
the National IntelLigencer, that no war ex-
lists with the Indians on the Plains; that the
hostile acts which have occurred, have been
those of individuals redressing some real or
imagined wrong received from the Whites
that the Indians are peaceably inclined; that
there is no war with the northwestern In
dians, and will not be any, unless brought
on by the indiscreet conduct of those regi-
ments ordered into the Indian country. He
insists that regiments are not needed-par-
ticularly of regular soldiers that none but
mounted rangers should be employed on the
Plains, and those commanded by men who
perfectly understand the Indian wants and
character. In this we believe Colonel Ben
ton to be right. In aspeech just before the
close of the session of Congress, he declared
"That the killing of Lieut.. Grattan and
his command near Fort Laramie was the
effect of great misconduct on the part of
the Lieutenant; and that the depredatiOns
committed upon our travelling citizens were
chiefly individual acts Of retaliation, induced
by previous wrong, which any Western man
acquainted with Indians could settle imme-
diately; and that some one Of these men, not
an army, should be sent out to do the busi-
ness. This is what | said in relation to the
New Mexican Indians, | admitted there was
war, and had been for five years; and affirm
ed and proved that it was brought on by
the dreadful misconduct of our own officers.
In that same speech, and in the absence Of
cause for these new regiments for Indian
service, land for which proposed mounted
rangers as the true species of force,) | ex-
pressed my opinion that the real destination
of these new regiments and the new ships of
war was Cuba"
The Colonel, says the New York Times,
"staked himself" on the non-existence of
that war-"except in the imagination of
our Administration" and he has been busy
collecting evidence to that effect. He has
questioned the fur traders,-he has been out
asking the dealers in peltries if they saw
any of the symptoms, and with one voice
they answered, NO" One firm scarcely
less than century in age, told him that it
had capital of $370,000 invested, and had
suffered no losses, (since the Fort Laramie
bloodshed.) But war would have palsied
them, blocked all their operations, thrown
300 men out of employ, and made six forti-
fed establishments useless Another indi-
vidual told him that he was just fitting out
a trading expedition, bat should take no ad-
ditional men-believing the Indians to be
entirely friendly, and skeptical as to the
ability of the regiments to provoke the
Sioux to fight. And this, he says is the
way that the people are most likely to suf-
er from misapprehensive view of the mat
ter.
A correspondent of the st. Louis Repub-
tlcan, writing from Platte river, under date
of March 10, confirms the Colonel's asser-
ton, that the war is all "in the imagination
Of our administration. He says:
"The Indians have all left the Platte, and
gone to White river and L Leauquicourt; they
have been anXiously awaiting to hear from
their Great Father at Washington to see if
the whites are determined to fight They
now begin to think it 'all day" with them
They sag they are determined not to fight the
whites. But | should not be surprised if
they moved to the Missouri, to hear of mur-
ders and thefts whenever they have a
chance"
But we really hope the zeal of the admin
istration will not involve us in another in
terminable Indian strife. The expenses of
the war with the Sacs and Foxes in 1880,
were more than three millions of dollars
1t cost more than Sl8,OOO,OOO to suppress
the Indian hostilities that burned from 1882
to 1912. Aside from all calculation of the
losses of individuals and companies, and the
regular appropriations for the support of the
army, it is estimated that the aggregate cost
of extinguishing Indian wars during the last
twenty-five years, has been more than $780,
100000. Union.