The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1870-07-07
THURSDAY, JULY Z, 1870.
THE WAR on THE PLAINS.

THE WAR ON The PLAINS.
The usual summer Indian warfare on the
plains has again commenced. The old story
is repeated, with no substantial difference
except that the number of whites in danger
of assault is increased. The telegraph, too,
keeps the American people promptly advised
of bloody massacres and sanguinary struggles
which, in former times, would have scarcely
ever been heard of east of the Mississippi.
Disguise it as we may, there is an irrepressi-
BILE conflict between civilization and barba-
rism, which can never be adjusted until a
series of decisive fights determines this most
irreconcilable of all disputes. That dreadarbi-
ter, the sword, is never so essential
as in strifes with savages. Their rude and
untamed spirits cannot be bound by verbal
or written treaties, until they are firmly
impressed with a conviction that new out
breaks will be punished with inevitable
death. The Indian problem, which was only
solved after many wars and murders, east of
the Mississippi, is more difficult and intricate
on the plains than in any other portion of the
continent. They furnish theatre for no.
madic life which is as congenial to the wild
nature of the aborigines as it is for
bidding and impenetrable to the white
race. The Indians of mountainous dis
tricts must have fixed homes somewhere,
against which the energies of an army can be
concentrated. But the nomads of the plains
are forever on the march, living perpetually
in a series of temporary camps which can be
changed at few hours notice. 1t is only in
the dead of winter, when travel of all kinds
becomes well-nigh impossible, that they are
forced to adopt an Indian equivalent for going
into winter quarters. To secure protection
during this season from the possible danger
of an attack by white troops, and to gain gifts
and ammunition, they are always ready to
make, in the fall, the treaties they break in
the spring. When the SHOWS melt,
and the grass affords pasturage to
their ponies, they invariably become
eager to start out on war and hunting parties,
which are as ready to strike down unprotected
settlers or to plunder trains as to slay the
buffalo. Following this mode of life for
centuries, and preying upon each other when
white victims are not available, it will require
the strongest of human motives to force them
to adopt more civilized habits. Even the
patient and hopeful Quaker agents must be
uncomfortable wards and the impossibility of
dealing with them on strict moral suasion
principles. When they see whole bands
leaving reservations with the defiant message
that they want the United States soldiers to fol-
low up and fight them; hear of Indians killing
and scalping the men employed to transport
goods and presents to the agencies, and know
that war parties are starting out with deadly
intentions from every direction, their faith in
the practical efficacy of peace doctrines must
be sorely tried. General Sheridan gives even
worse picture of Indian treachery when he
expresses fear that the ''young men of the
Yankton Sioux are simply making their reser-
vation base of operations and supply, as
they get their food to start on the war-path
from issues, and if pursued take refuge in
the reservation" If this onjecture is cor
rect, the Government, under this system, is
made to furnish supplies and protection to
the most deadly enemies of its citizens.
The late manifestations of hostility are so
numerous that an unusually extensive Indian
war is apprehended. 1t remains to be seen
whether these fears will be realized; but the
difficulty of an effestive combination of the
diverse tribes is almost insurmountable, and
at the worst they can only be little more
unanimous and methodical in their hostile
demonstrations than in previous seasons.
Some of the tribes have, by sound thrashings,
been converted into fast friends of the
whites, and if Sheridan is allowed and ena-
bled to infict severe and merited chastise-
ment on the war parties now in the field, the
bands with which they are connected may also
bury the hatchet too deep to have it within
easy reach next summer. A good beginning
seems to have been made on the 26th ult.,
when a small body of cavalry attach two
hundred Indians, killing fifteen of their num-
ber and wounding others. Nothing checks
the warlike zeal of the aborigines SO speedily
as a discovery that hard blows must be taken
as well as given.