Arizona miner., 1867-10-19


 fessed to have derived his statistics from the Indians themselves, estimated the number oi fighting men of the several Apache tribes at f,s75 and he appears to have been careful to keep within bounds To this number must be added the Walapais, Yavapais cer- tain renegade Pah-Utes, and, doubtless, many Nayaios These Indians are scattered through out the length and breadth of the Territory and are constantly committing murders, ana depredations upon the property of the settlers. Until within very recent period, the military force within the Territory has been utterly insufficient to protect the set tiers. miners and travellers from the attacks of the savages, much less to carry on ofien- sive operations against them successfully.
 2d The sweeping charge against the mili- tary officers in Arizona is unwarranted and untrue While there may be some unworthy exceptions, the many officers generally in this Territory are honorable and high minded gentlemen, and as free, if not freer, from ad- diction to "whiskey, cards, iandangos and prostitutes" as their wholesale lbeller Many of them are married, and their lovely, ac- complshed and excellent wives share with them the perils and prvations of camp life in hostile country. To implicate such men ! in the misconduct of a few thoughtess young officers, whose demoralization (if it is true that they are so deprayed as Mir DnflielC rebrcsents) is owing to their unfortunate proximity to Mexican towns and Indian vii lages, is cowardly and villainous.
 3d. While we do not hold ourselves rcspon sble for statements made by the MINEI prior to our assuming control of the paper
 we " do not hesitate " to say that we believ
 it's former conductors never published ac
 counts of successes obtained by the troop
 over the Indians without substantial author ity; and we defy MT. Drfield, or any othe man, to prove the falsty of any account s published.
 4th. In regard to the case cited, wher
 Indians who had committed murders Pima county were pursued only to the Gil river the troops who followed them, ant 7 fearing the water, turned back" we are il formed did wise thing. The Gila was ui usually high and its current swift; and i have attempted to cross it in the face of l. large force of hostile Indians would ha, T exposed the pursuers to almost certain 7, struction.
 n 5th. The hostile Indians in Arizona are r. numerous, in proportion to the extent IF Territory which they infest, as the Indians > the plains; are as we'll armed and will I if quirc proportionably as large force to su l. due them "When once conquered E doubt they will be "forever subdued," their conquerers take care to forever depri
 them of the power of doing mischief
 Mir. Dufiield speaks correctly concerni |, the boldncss of the Indians, and the ina, 'i- quacy of the regular troops to cope wi of them. They are shockingly ignorant of t ' irpics and usagcs of civilized warfare, a 'nif will not come out by platoons on open grou IS to be shot secsndum artem They persist 5, fighting from behind rocks and bushes, a J, when closely pressed seek shelter iii the IT.
 inaccessible places, where few regular offic, re or soldiers seem disposed to follow the lu They can be successfully assaulted ,yy their strongholds only by men who have h 10 experience in frontier life, are thorougl as acquainted with the character and habits n- the Indian, and arc prepared to fight him r. m his own way. While we believe that { as regular troops in this Territory have dc lg reasonably well under all the circumstanC Ig we are satisfied that many if not all Of ! l,, re commands might have done better, and u m lesser number of volunteer troops, N ng armed and ofiicered, would have accomplish ms great deal more in the same space of tir " In conclusion, we feel constrained to .1 that we believe Mir Duffield's stateme IT, concerning military and Indian affairs n- Arizona were dictated by less worthy II CT tive than desire to communicate the tr,
 to the readers of the New York 1ribuas. nc
 g sa INDIAN ATROCITIES.