New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1873-06-14
MORE OF THE rODOCs.

AV0o VI ILL AVOSOS'
The South may have had much to com
plain Of in the past, from the inconsidersse
and indiscriminate censure of very good
people who could not. in the distance. ap-
preciate the complexities Of Its socla. 81 t.
uation. In like manner. there are gentle
men who may have never seen an indian
except, perhaps, those who bring gumoo
leaves to the French Market. or possibly
those who sell beaded moccasins at Nj
agara. Ye. such persons speak with as
surance of the Modoc war. and place the
frontier settlers in the wrong for acts OF
violence toward these treacherouS
savages. It would require his
tory to explain the border conflict
between civilization and barbarlsm. 1t
has extended from the pickets OF Plymouth
and jamestown to the lava beds. 1t has
been the same story. Adventurous men
settled upon the borders of the Indian
country. Their wives were slain, their
houses robbed and their children carried
into captivity by the savages. Very often
the whites would retaliate. Here is one
of the cases: In April, 1774. number OF
neople being on the look out for settle
ments on the Ohio, were alarmed at a re-
port that the Indians had robbed some OF
their party. and so gathered together at
Wheeling creek Cresap and party
went up the river. waylaid and killed two
Indians. and afterward killed several more
in the same manner. Daniel Greathouse
collected party Of settlers to attack
hunting ercampmeut Of Indians on the
Ohio This party concealed themselves.
and Greenhouse went alone TO the Indian
camp. Here he provided drink for the
Indians and when a sufficient number
was collected and intoxicated he and MS
party fell upon them and massacred the
whole, excep. little girl preserved as
prisoner.
Thus commenced the war which re-
suited in the defeat of the Five Nations
and the occupation by the whites of the
Northwestern Territory. The foreign
philanthropist will say that the whites
were, in this case, in the wrong. Perhaps
so: but this was savage warfare, and those
men whose wives and children were at the
mercy of race that struck like snake at
all they hated, could not have been ex
pecred to reason like doctors Of Cambridge.
It was the same thing when the English,
exasperated by the Sepoy mutiny, blew
their prisoners from the mouth OF
howitzer. Such, however, is Indian war
fare Such Washington understood it to
be when he advised Braddock, 80 igno-
rant of this race and its warfare. when
Braddock exclaimed: Cline times, by
Cd, when a British officer is to be taught
his duty by bucksin ranger The rules
of civilized warfare have long since been
discarded in war of more than two centu-
ries. The mind Of the frontiersman
has been made up. to get the
first shot at the Indian if be can.
We presume that if those who find
the men Of Oregon in the wrong for kills
ing Indians under guard. or ceasure those
desperate women who attempted the lives
of the savage murderers Of their husbands.
were to hear the stories Of husbands and
parents whose dear ones had been killed
or carried off by Comanches or Mohaves
or Kickapoos or Modocs, they would Iity.
if they could not pardon. the violence of
their hatred toward the unregeu crate saw
age Certainly it was very wrong in those
men who killed Indian prisoners u,dec
the guard and safe conduct OF tie United
States. Their conduct will no doubt be
investigated. and proper punishment
awarded. ye: frontier people are in Pc
culiar condition, and their rules of action
and measures of safety are not to be
measured as we sit at sea coal fire.
within easy reach Of the habeas corpus.
and the action for damages in assault or
libel.