Daily Ohio statesman. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1855-1870, 1868-12-04


tnander at the head of his legions, going
forth to exterminate the red men, to a
minister of peace to the denizens of the
forest. DIE sl;f..' 90 % u1ii55 oj
He and his colleagues on that Com
mission set about the duties of their ap!.
pointmant without unnecessary delay, |
and visited the disaffected and dissatis-
fled bands to ascertain and remove, if /
possible, the causes of war; to secure,
if practicable, our frontier settlements,
and the building of the railroads, and
to suggest or inauguratei some plan for
the civilization Of the Indians. These,
in substance, were the duties confded
to the Commission by the law of its
creation 1t performed vast amount
of labor, took the testimony in every To-
cality twisted of army officers, Indian
agents and others, and the testimony of
Indians also. Early in January. 1868,
the Commission made its report to the
President, and the same, with the &C.
companying documents, was laid before
Congress the 14th of the month. 81 1t /
is much to be regretted that thel report
isnot to-day in the bands of every man
in the country = but Congress printed |
only a limited number of cepies.=l
All the charges which hadti been made
against the Indians prior to January,
1861. by Governors of Territories and
other officials, army officers, scouts, ETC.,
and which had influenced General Sher-
mansani others, and produced in their
minds the most intense prejudice against
= Id, Al
DETERMINATION, because, as General
Sherman said in an official letter, dated
December %, 1866, " nothing less will
reach the root of the case," were pa
tiently and thoroughly examined, and
by the unanimous Judgment of the COM.
mission, as testified to in their report,
the Indians were vindicated. The
great mass of the stories about Indian
outrages were proved to be false, and in
cases wherein the Indians had commit
ted the offenses charged. it was shown
that prior acts of omission or commits
sion, on the part of the whites, was at
! the bottom of it. f Dr. s..e..liff fo arI
| In some general comments onthe sub
Iiect, the Commission say: "Among civ
ilized men, war usually springs from
sense of injustice. The best possible
way, then, to avoid war, is to do no act
of injustice. When we learn that the
same rule holds good with Indians, the
chief difficulty is removed. But it is
said our wars with them have been al
most constant. Have we been uniformly
unjust We, answer unhesitatingly ly,
yes, s4,-s.. .j.,...-... r,
In relation to plan for civilizing the
Indians, the Commission, among other
things, say: This brings us to consider
the much mooted question whether the
Bureau should belong to the civil or
military department of the government.
To determine this properly, we must
first know what is to be the future treat
ment of the Indians. If we intend to
have war with them the Bureau should
go to the Secretary of War. If wein
tend to have peace it should be in the
civil department. In our Judgment
such wars are wholly unnecessary, and
hoping that the government and the
country will agree with us we can not
now advise the change. *a* I'm
der the plan which we have suggested
the chief duties of the Bureau will be
to- educate and instruct in the peaceful
arts-in other words. to ciyilize the
Indians. The military arm of the
government is not the most admirably
adapted to discharge duties of this
character. We have the highest possi-
BILE appreciation of the officers of the ar
my, and fully recognize their proverbial
! integrity and honor; but we are satis-
fled that not one in thousand would
like to teach Indian children to read and
write, or Indian men to sow and reap.
These are emphatically civil and not
military occupations. : = The
vast and complicated duties now de-
volved upon the Secretary of the Inte-
rior leave him too little time to examine
and determine the multiplicity of ques-
tions necessarily connected with the
government and civilization of race.
} The same may be said of the Secretary
of War. =, We, therefore, rec
ommend that Indian affairs be commit
ted to an independent bureau or de-
:, partment." sa =,
i Such is the language used in the re-
} port of the Commission after mature
and due deliberation. That report is
signed by Generals w. II. Sherman
VIM. S. Harney, Alfred H. Terry, and
G. G. Augur, all OF the United States
army. In my Judgment the plan pro.
posed is correct, aud it is only through
the operations of an independent de-
partment, acting peacefully among the
Indians on reservations set apart and
, maintained for civilization purposes,
that wars can be avoided, and the men,
tai and material interests of the Indians
can be promoted, srsF -T
But these same distinguished Gener-
ais of the United States army and a
component part of the Peace Commits
sion, call that body together in Chicago,
in October last, and, happening to be in
the majority, go back on this record, and
resolve by their votes that "the time has
come" when we must have war with the
Indians, and that the Bureau must be
turned over to the War Department.
, The reason for this strange and incon-
sistent conduct on the part of these
officers, as stated in Gen. Sherlnan's re-
port, is the attitude of few bands of
the Indians of the Plains, against whom
) Gen. Sheridan is now operating! 1
have carefully examined the charges ex-
hibited by Gen. Sherman against the In,
dians, as set forth in his report. They,
like the former reports and charges
against these same Indians, and which
the Peace Commission exploded, will, if
ever put to critical test, require severe
: revision; but if all true, as detailed by
General Sherman, they offer no sufi-
cient or valid reason for the present
war, or for the transfer of the Indian