The Washington union. [volume] (City of Washington [D.C.]) 1857-1859, 1858-11-25
THE INDIANS AND THE ARMY.

THE INDIANS AND THE ARMY.
We have no desire to protract debate with the
htelgeneer the Indian policy Of the government.
The conduct and character of the officers of the army
do not require vindication from the impeachment
aspersons Of anonymous writer's in opposition news
papers, who stand always ready to assal them. The
whole history of the operations of army in the
Indian districts has hoeu history of long suffering
and forbearance while the preservation of peace
has been deemed possible; and of restraint and hui
mainly when hostlities were finally engaged in.
Our Indian campaigns have been theatres in which
the winning of military credit and eclat has been
impossible, and III which the utmost toll, exertion,
perseverance, and courage the part of the army,
has only been rewarded by of the pecuniary
cost of its operations and derision of its services
against the "poor Indian" The savage after pro-
LESSONS of peace and friendship in the day time, may
fall at night upon exposed settlement of whites
burn and devastate right and left, STAY and scalp
with fiendish ferocty, and carry off tender women
into the wds of the forest prairie to infict upon
them barbarties unspeakabe; yet, if the army fol-
low them up and punish them with the righteous
vengeance of offended humanity, at the first symp-
tom of actual suffering their part the cry of pity
the poor Indian is raised, troops denounced as
more cruel and inhuman than the savage, and loud
clamor raised against the cost of the Indian war and
the wrongs of the red man.
The consequence of all this is, that the army is al
ways reluctant to engage in Indian wars, in which it
is sure to reap kicks than crowns. The tenn
per of its officers is always to put off the evil day of
hostities to the last and to exhaust the last dregs
the cup of forbearance. The presumption therefore
is in every case in which hostilites do occur that
they have been forced into war by insults and bar
| barities intolerable even in the poor Indian
| We say that from these obvious considerations,
the fair inference in cases of Indian wars always
that the army has been forcedhas been kicked into
we come to consider the motives which dictate anony
nous communications in the newspapers dated
from the Indian country, consuming aspersing the
conduct Of the army. War with the Indians inter
feres with the pecuniary interests, in some cases
with the domestic relations of class of whites who
have gone out from the precincts of civilization to
habtate with the savages.
! With many of the tribes the government have con-
tracted treaties, under which, until interrupted by
war, large annuities Of money paid to the tribes
Tie Indians, as general rule, have appreciation
of money, and usually get themselves happily rid Of
it on the first day or week of its payment to them
It is useless to say whose pockets become the recep
taces of the squandered gold and silver; nor is it
difficult to conceive the potent objections which the
real recipients of these treasures feel to hostes
which put sudden stop to their gains.
Even in the cases of tribes which do not receive an
nuities from the government the pecuniary interests
of the same class of whites similarly affected by
hostilites with the United States troops, All these
wild tribes are more or less predatory. Theft and
robbery are the direction in which their enterprise
aud belligerence are exered-robbery, not merely of
struggling white emgrants but robbery by different
tribes of each other. The trading whites habiating
with them to reap by ndirection the ultimate
gains enuring from their predatory system Of life,
while they sustain of the losses and as these
depredations are the which bring tardy and
final rupture with the United States troops, it is the
most natural thing in the world for the white persons
who are so deeply interested in the continuation Of
the depredations to ccnsure and asperse the officers
of the army who engage in hostlites for their sup
| preston.
| mus we nave seen tnat all tne CONSIDERATIONS
which could operate tho minds of the officers of
the army lead them to put off the evil day Of war
with the Indians as long possible, to forbear to
the last extremity of honor and to renew peaceful
relations after they have been broken at the first mo-
ment that prudence will permit Thus the inference
in case of hostltes is always in favor Of the army
and against the Indian tribe The reverse is the
with the white friends Of the Indians who rush
into the newspapers 4, the States, with censures Of
the army and excavations Of indian barbarity and
insult The motives Of these are not to be
trusted. The inducements which prompt them to
espouse the cause of the savage not unsel6sh
humanitarian. They are swayed by the bias Of the
pocket they are moody and censoriobs at tho stop
page of their gains. All the fair presumptions OF
the case are against the disnterestedness of them
selves and in favor of the disnteresedness of the
officers.
We expect to embrace early opportunity to
present the official evidence against the NaSajoes
called for by the Incgeneer; but we rcpudiate the