The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1873-04-20
Our Indian Policy-Its Mistakes and
Its Lessons.

Singuiarly enough, we have had no ade-
quate explanation of the escape of the Modocs
After three days of sharp fighting General
Gillem found he had no enemy within the
Gordon he had drawn around Captain Jacks
cave His lines had not been broken, and yet
the foe was gone. From this it is plain that
grave blunder was committed, and it seems
improbable that the blunder was made after
the fighting began. When was it, then, that
the mistake was madeP This question is now
asked all over the country, and the only req
sonable answer, apparently, that suggests
itself is, Immediately before or Immediately
after-most probably after-the massacre of
General Candy and Mr.. Thomas" When the
whole truth comes to be known it will, we
think, be discovered that Captain Jack re-
moved not only the squaws and pappooses,
but the greater part of his band, from the
lava beds before the fighting began
at all, and that the Indians with whom Gen.
eral Gillem fought were only sufficient in
number to keep up show of resistance. In
the one case the blame will rest upon the
administration for forcing it's pet peace policy
upon General Candy; in the other. General
Gillem's delay after the massacre will be the
| cause. And in all this we see additional
reason why General Sheridan should have
been entrusted with the settlement Of the
Modoc troubles Sheridan's fame to q
great extent rests upon his celebrity in action
To the want Of this quality in General
Gillem is the escape of Captain Jack to be
attributed, in all probability. In Indian
warfare q delay of six hours may be more
disastrous than q delay of week in ordinary
wars. General Gillem should have attacked
not allowing the Modocs an hour in which
to escape. Failing to do this he failed alto
gether, and the whole country is mortified by
what is practically his defeat Taking advan-
tage of his slowness, Captain Jack outwitted
him, and. may even now be planning fresh
depredations far distant from the lava beds.
Apparently another mistake was made in
not using the cavalry to watch the Indians
| outside of the lava beds, SO as to intercept
them if they endeavored to escape to the
mountains. The fires, into which shells were
thrown by General Gillem's orders, were evil
IDENTIFY intended as blind to occupy the
attention of the troops while the remaining
warriors were preparing to escape. A few
men left behind to delay the advance of the
troops, knowing the country as we'll as it was
known to these Indians, could readily get
away while the howitzers were playing upon
an imaginary camp. Cavalry between the
lava beds and the mountains might have pre-
vented the escape of the savage band, or Of
such part OF it as was yet in the neighbor-
hood Of Captain Jacks cave when the fight
ing began. At least the trail of the Indians
might have been preserved and followed and
the fleeing savages pursued and slaughtered
In few days we shall understand the
whole matter but in the meantime the neces-
sity of adopting some better method Of deal
ing with the Indians generally must not be
overlooked We have already pointed out the
fact that both the peace policy Of the admins
tration and the older system Of gathering the
Indians on reservations had failed. The army
has been trying to teach this for months, but
the humanitarian view has prevailed in spite
of facts and arguments which show that there
can be no peace with the savages either on
the Pacific coast or in Arizona. There could
be no better authority on this subject than
General Sherman, and from his letter, which
we print to-day, it will be seen that he is
unreserved in his expressions of opinion
upon our Indian policy. This letter is
one Of the most logical essays ever written
on the Indian question. It is 80 full
Of 'meat' that any attempt to recapitu-
late it would only weaken its force,
and 30 we commend it to our readers, merely
promising that it is o most remarkable docu-
ment, proving conclusively that the War
Department and the army can best manage
Indian affairs, and upsetting all the theories
Of peace commissioners and humanitarian
philosophers. Perhaps the strongest thing
in General Sherman's letter is his reference
to Satanic. After recapitulating the COM
plants Of the Texas people against the treaty
Indians, and especially against Satanic, and
declaring at the same time that he would not
believe the stories that were told him till he
went to see for himself, he says, ssNow am
told that Satanic is to be turned loose again,
although believe he has committed fifty
murders and has VIGOROUSLY violated every
promise hitherto made" In itself this is
sufficient condemnation of the peace policy
and the reservation system, which are effect
i've only il protecting Indian murderers and
marauders.
We print besides, very important COM
munication from o gentleman in Wash
ington thoroughly acquainted with the
Indian tribes on the Pacific slope, from
which it is plain that something
more potent than the mere desire for re-
venge prompted the recent murder of General
Candy by Captain Jack and his band The
Indians west of the mountains have prophecy,
which has become q religion with thegi, that