The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1870-05-03
LATEST FROM WASHINGTON.
Special kilograms 10 the Dispatch.
w ,cufScroS Mav1 1874
No EHOSfisitiCS.i


No EEoSfi!itics.i -
Lieutenant General Sheridan has returned
TO Chicago, and is not going to Fort Sully,
rs ii was thought he would. He telegraphs
General Sherman to-day that all the availa-
bic troops were en- route to the front, and
nothing OF hostile nature had yet occurred.
General Sherman was in some hope to-day
that the trouble would be averted and
actual hostilitics avoided.
Ehe Hndians-Their Preparations for
War, &c.
General Parker, Commissioner Of Indian
Affairs, estimates the Indian warriors in
the ncighborhood Of Fort Sully at about
5000. They are we'll armed and mounted.
About 5000 Of these are Sioux, and the re-
mainder is made up Of scattering tribes.
He is satisfied they are bent on war, and if
it shall take place it will be the most destruc-
tive and expensive Indian war we have ever
had. lie says these savages are better
prepared with horses than our own
cavalry, and the Indians can raise about
IL, 900 warriors. The Sioux and their allies
were never in better condition TO give us
alarm to the Indians is the threatene ap-
proach Of the Big Horn expedition, which
numbers about $500 men, now assembled
at Chcycnne-miners, surveyors, farmers,
&c. They are expected to start in few days
to inspect the Big Horn range Of mountains,
the Big Horn river and slopes, and dis
cover, if possible, the immense gold deposit
said to be in that region. General Sheridan
was ordered some time ago to. stop this ex-
petition, but upon pledges from the expe-
ditionsts that they would not modest the
Indians the order was revoked. The
Indians will not be convinced that
this expedition is peaceable, and they
are therefore preparing for war. &C.
neral Parker thinks our cavalry is
not strong enough by one-half to cope
with the Indians, who will divide and only
fight in bands of five hundred or SO, and
will scatter over Montana, Wyoming, Da-
kotah. and Colorado Territories, and we
shall be startled with accounts of horrible
massacres in those Territories. The In
dams will not meet General Sheridan IN
pitched battle. They are too shreWd 1or
that. General Sheridan cannot have more
than about two thousand cavalry, and it
can readily be seen that it will be dlflcult
for him to check the savages. The IN
fantry that has been sent out is merely 10
strengthen the forces at the different forts
along the frontier, and General Sheridan
can only act upon the defensive until our
cavalry arm of the service is strengthened.
General Parker estimates the cost of two
months war with the Indians at sum
greater than it would require to feed the
Indians one year. sri. .
Polygamy.
General Cullum, chairman Of the House
Territorial Committee, to-day read letter
from Governor Shafier, Of Utah, from which
it appears that the Governor has been
quietly taking notes and examining into the
condition of affairs, and has prepared and
forwarded statement relative to matters
in the Territory. He urges the Immediate
passage Of the House bill abolishing po-
lygamy, and says that unless some such
measure is adopted it will be useless TO
attempt to establish just government Tor
the people there. Nothing is said an this
letter about the stories chat the Mofmons
are organizing or arming to resist the autho-
rites of the United States.
The Pacific Railroad.
The recent action Of one of the judges in
Wyoming Territory is threatening to put
the Pacific railroad into the hands Of a re-
ceiyer. and other interferences on the part