The Emporia news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1859-1881, 1867-08-23
RPEECH OF
HON. e. Ct. ROSS.
OF KANSAS

/
the bill 6. No. 1861 TO establish peao
with certaip IUdian tribss. AIR. Ross OF
fered the following amendment as add
,ional sections:
-Ana be Il further enacted. That the Gen
eral OF the army is hereby authorized tc
accept the services of mounte,
vOlun GERS from the Governors of the STATE
OF Ksnsa> and Nebraska, aud the Terri
tories of New Mexico, Colorado, Monta
"a. Idano and Dakota, in organized com
psnlss and battalions. not exceeding lou
thousand men IN number. and for suct
Term Of service as 10 his Judgment may b
necessary for the suppression of Indar
bosulitits in those STATES and Territories
And be Il further enacted, That all vol
unieers 20 accepted shall be placed upor
the same footing In respect to pay, cloth
ing, subsistence and equipment. as the
troops of the regular army.
Mr.. ROSS. My reason for offering the
amendment Is, that as the ball now stands
1t is entirely imperative for the purpo,e
Of present protection. There is no pro.
visions in the bill auihor;z ug the adop
uon OF measures for tue suppression Of
hosIilItes. do not know that It will be
net essary, bu: do know that it is the
opinion OF Gen. Grant and OF Gen Sher-
man that proiracted aud general war can
more certainly be averred by the employ
meul Of limited number of volunteers
and for a brief enlistment Than IN any
other way. Il is for the purpose of ena
bling onr commanding generals to carry
out this idea by authorizing them, if in
their discretion il should be necessary, and
not otherwise, to accept the services OF
volunteers from the States AID Territories
named. 1t must necessarially be weeks,
perhaps months. before this commission
can take any effective action for the sup
preston of hostilites. They will be COM
pslled 10 act through an organized and
powerful military force, because they can
lave access to the councils OF the Indi
ans 10 no other way. They must be en-
aoled 10 show to the Indians that they have
the power 10 execute the purpose of their
cammIssion, and that l. will be useless for
them 10 stand 10 the way.
A STATE of things similar TO that PIE
valing on the frontier, though ia modi-
fed form, has existed in Kansas for the
past ten years. Scarcely a season has
passed in which the frontiers have not
been more OF less disturbed by the incur
siOns OF bands of hostile Indians, who
have murdered and robbed the pioneers
aud Ob=trucged the extension OF settle
ents aud of civilization across the
Plains.
During the late years of the war. and
since, those incursioDs have been much
more frequent. as the settlements have
encroached more closely upon the ancien'
domain of the red man. and as de~pera
does from tie rebel armies have dsd to
these plains TO escape the punishment du-
their crimes of ou'lswry. and there joined
the Indians to wreak their veDgence upon
he loyal pioneer.
These disturbances have now culmina-
ted in hostile attacks along the entire from
tier of the West, from the British Pos
SESSIONS almost to the Cult of Mexico.
Kan-as aud Nebraska, especially, as the
most forward in projected improvements
toward the west. and having the mOet ex-
posed settlements, have been singled out
a peculiar objects Of vengeance, and such
has been the destruction of lie and prop
erty in my own State that the State Gov
ernment has been compelled 70 initiate
measures for the protection of its people,
to lake the risk OF mourning the displeas-
uys Of the Federal Government or of
seeing huadreds of it's best citizens butch
E, ed, their homes destroyed. and all devel
opment to the West stopped.
Here Senator Ross introduces letters
of Governor Crawford and others, detail
ing facts in regard to Indian ouuages so
patent here that their repetition would be
hardly necessary, even if cur space would
permit
Previous to the war and during The
first year Of it's rise the commerce OF the
Plains involved a capital of not less than
800 600 600 per annum. employing
thousands of men, and was the means o.
building up properous communities at the
terminal as at the initial points of the
lines OF communication. The property
of the Territories of New Mexico. Color
ado and M ,ntaDa. as of California. Ore
gon and Washington. was largely promo
ted and sustained bVtbis commerce.
Since that time and under the hazaTds
which have attended that trade from the
hostiliIies of the Indians which inhabit
the great Plains. that great commerce has
ianguished. until at this time one quarter
of The amount of wealth then represented
would be liberal estimate of the amount
of capital involved. waile life as we'll a.
property is utterly unsafe on those Plains
outside the lines of an organized army
For MANY years previous to the open
ing for setllemsnts of the Territories OF
Kansas and Nebraska these hostilities
we're comparatively unknown. Il will be
remembered that the immense emigration
across the Plains to California in I949 and
sub-equent years was with comparative
safety. 20 far SO Indians we're concerned,
and the cause Of this change in the atti
tude of The Indian has become a peril
nent inquiry. Many and sage have beer
the bypoIheses upon which il has sought
TO be accounted for. The reasons assign
ed have been various. and partaken large
u Of the prejUdices peculiar TO the diff
ferent localities Of the country In Ia
East, far removed from contact with the
Wild Indians. utterly ignorant of his hab
its. and imPregnated with the romanti,
fantasies Of novel writers, these nomad
have been invested with an heroic halo
and they represented as fighting for thei