The New Orleans Democrat., 1876-07-11
THE SIOUX WAR.
THE COUNTRY PLUNGED INTO A HEED
LESS WAR.
Ten Million. More of Debt ana Thousands
Of Lives.

lNeW sOfK FHn.l
To get Il correct idea OF the magnitude
OF the war into which we have been so
needlesslv plunged, IL is only necessary
To remember the Modoc war, I'm which
about one hundred comparatively tame
Indians detled the military power OF the
United States for weeks, and were at
last overcome only through the treach-
cry OF some Of their own band. The foe
that we now have TO contend against
numbers many thousands OF the iiercest
sayages on the continent, headed by
chiefs who are adopts In strategy. aud
Instead OF being hemmed In by our
troops as the Modocs were In lava beds,
they have an area of thousands of
square miles, abounding la natural for
tresses, in which to play at hide aud
seek with our soldiers. There are 10000
square miles in the great Sioux reserva-
tiDn alone. and population OF about
3O, ZOO upon IL, while there are fifteen or
twenty thousand OF the same warlike
uation upon other reservations, besides
several thousand who have never en-
tered into any relations whatever with
our Government, refusing to make
treaties with IL or to acknowledge 1t In
any way.
In what was known ~ the Cheyenne
war few years ago, II cost the Govern
meDt u million dollars for every Indian
that WIS killed, while in Florida. some
forty years ago, n handful OF Seminoles
held out for seven years against the
military forces of the United States,
commanded by some of the ablest gene
rails we have ever bad. The war cost
the country 10000. 900 and about fifteen
hundred lives. With these examples In
mind, the reader may form faint con
ception OF what the new Sioux war is
likely to cost.
But the worst has not been told. The
effects which may be produced by the
Custer disaster and the check upon
Crook are frightful to contemplate.
There are other Indian nations than the
Sioux who have been systematically
swindled and cheated by the agents of
the Interior Department during the
past eight years; there are friendly
bands OF Sioux whose grievances have
been many, and who may be encour-
aged by these events to assume an atti-
tude of open hostility Should such be
the case, and should a general uprising
OF the tribes of tho Northwest occur, the
Indians will undoubtedly carry the war
into our unprotected settlements, and
the consequences would be horrible in
deed. The progress Of settlement In
Montana, Wyoming, Nebraska, Idaho,
Colorado and New Mexico would re-
celve a sudden check, enterprise In tnat
vast region would be discouraged, aud
throughout an area larger than that Of
New England, the Middle and the
Southern States combined. the popula-
tion would be constantly exposed to the
attacks of predatory Indian bands with
all their attendant horrors. We repeat
that IL is no, ,exaggeration to anticipate
an addition OF hundreds of millions Of
dollars to the national debt, aud the
sacrifice OF innumerabio innocent lives,
hs among the results of the war into
which Grant has heedlessly plunged the
country.
There was no good cause for the
present difficulties with the Sioux. They
grew out OF gross violations of treaty
stipulations upon our own part, in
stigated 10y motives of greed. and pro-
noted by the Rings in the Interior De-
partment and elsewhere in Washing
ton. ALI the, cost aud lost Of life and
misery that may accrue from the war
will spring from no other cause than the
desire Of the Administration to crafty
the avarice OF spectators and political
jobbers. This war is but one OF the re-
suits OF Grantism.