The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1868-09-25

Our latest Jews from the Plains is but con-
frmation of the o. Unions we have many times
expressed-that the Policy pursued by the
Interior Department in it's dsSlings with tie
Indians is all wrong, in fact, If not part of
machinery utterly corrupt, is only to be ex-
cused by the plea of supreme incompetency.
What is this news? 1t is not probably very
accurate, coming as it does from Fort Wal
lace, with which there is no direct connection
by railroad or telegraph; but it is sufficiently
distinct to inform us that party Of fifty
United States soldiers were beset by seven
hundred Indians, that nearly all their officers
were either killed or wounded, and that at
latest accounts they were hemmed in by the
savages, the wounded and dying and unhurt
of the command alike subsisting upon the flesh
OF their horses. This occurred at Dry Fork,
on the Republican river, near its head waters
and ninety miles away from the camp at Fort
Wallace. Colonel Forsyth, a member of Gen
eral Sheridan's staff, was on scout with this
small band of fifty men, which we need not
say was wholly inadequate for the service, as
the result proved. Without going into the de-
tails of the fight here, it is only necessary to
say that the system of dealing with the Indians
on the part of the Secretary of the Interior,
Mr. Browning, and of President Johnson who,
instead of wasting his time on petty political
and personal squabbles, ought to see that
this branch OF the government is properly con-
Quoted, is most scandalous. Let us take for
example, the fact that the Indians are supplied
by the government with arms and ammunition
to be used against our own troops, and fur
nished with means of subsistence which in
many cases are better in quality and larger in
quantity than the United States soldiers receive
who are expected to contend against them.
What can we hope from conflict between
seven hundred Indians, supplied by govern
ment with Enfield rifles and abundance of am
munition, and fifty soldiers not better supplied?
If we arm our enemy to combat ourselves,
what else can we hope for but defeat and
butchery? In this last fight the army has lost
a brave young officer, Lieutenant Beecher,
nephew of Rev. Henry Ward Beecher, gal
liant soldier, who has won reputation as one
y
Plains. Colonel Forsyth, another active Off
Ger, is also reported as dangerously, perhaps
MORALLY, wounded.
1t is not unchartable to say that President
Johnson and Secretary Browning are respon-
sible for all the. blood shed in these unneces-
sary conflicts. The widows and the orphans
of our murdered soldiers must hold them &C
countable for the cause of their sorrows. The
Interior Department, as General Sherman re-
Gently said. is a constant check upon the Oper-
atoms of the military. IF commanding
officer interferes to arrest the Indian attacks
upon settlements or trains he is rebuked.
According to red tape rule he must only
punish the perpetrators after the crime is com
mitted. This is absurd, and the result of such
a policy is manifested by the late disastrous
outrage 81 am doing all can, says General
Sherman, with my little army, but to suppose
that 1 can do all that is expected of me,
hampered as 1 am by the routine of the
Department of the Interior, is asking too much
We do not know what the exact force on the
Plains under Sherman's control is, but we do
know that the number Of men under General
Shermans particular command, where many
of the late disturbances have occurred, cover
ing distance from Fort Leavenworth to Fort
Wallace and Fort Dodge, including Forts
Riley, Harker, Hays, Larned and Zarah, was
recently not more than nine hundred. This
stretch of country is occupied at intervals
by probably thirty thousand rowing Indians,
friendly perhaps to-day, hostile tomorrow,
according as they are well or i'll treated by the
agents of the government. We need not say
that the military force allotted for service on
the Plains is wholly inadequate to keep these
uncivilized bands in order when they become
exasperated, as we are afraid they do become
too often by the deliberate design of white
traders and Indian agents.
If the Indians are to be governed by force
then there should be an army kept on the Plains
sufficiently large to control them. 1t will not
do to have our troops cut off in detail by COM
panies, hemmed in, starved out and annihi-
lated by an overwhelming force Of savages
armed by our own government with weapons
to be used against our own troops. The whole
system is disastrous and disgraceful. If the
Interior Department cannot do better with the
Indian question than make profitable places
for its agents and needlessy shed the blood of
our brave officers and soldiers in a hopeless
effort to subdue the hostile tribes, the manage
ment ofthis business should be taken out of it's
hands. If the Secretary of the Interior does
not comprehend by this time from all the
facts at his command where the source of the
evil lies Ne is not fit for his position. If Pres-
dent Johnson continues to permit an important
department of his government to neglect one
of its most solemn duties he deserves the
assuredy receive it.