The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1876-07-07
The New sioux war.


treachery, dishonesty, and incompetency
Of the present Administration, the coun-
try Is involved In needless Indian war,
she end Of which no one can foresee, and
the magnitude of which very few people
appreciate. Unless some means for peace
able settlement with the Sioux can be
found-aud that now seems impossible-it
II noexaggeration to say that it will prob
ably cost the country hundreds of millions
Of dollars, and thousands on thousands of
lives before the war is ended. And for all
this expenditure of money and sacrifice of
human life, even in the event OF the most
complete ultimate success, we have moth
Ing to gain except the possession of tract
Of wild lands which we do not need at
present, aud are not likely to need for
generations to come.
Yesterday we published accounts of two
battles with the Sioux. at two different
points, in both of which our savage foes
were substantially the victors. The first
N importance was the attack Of Gen. Gus
FER with Ave companies upon an Indian
village Of three or four thousand warriors,
which resulted in the humiliation of the
attacking party, Gen. CUSTER, with fifteen
other officers, and every man belonging to
the five companies being killed. This oc-
rurred Oh June Is, near the mouth of the
Little Big Horn river, in Montana. The
other engagement was that of Gen. CROOK
forces with some two thousand warriors
supposed to be the bands of SITTING BULL
and CRAZY HORSE, which took place on
June II, OH Rosebud creek. also In Mon
tana. A brief account of Gen. CRooRs
q cd nv fall nj W. "a h..A
about two weeks since; but the full de-
tails, from The suns correspondent with
the expedition, were printed yesterday for
the first time.
The account of the Rosebud creek affair
MS given by our correspondent lie interest
ing atthis time, rs itillustrates the method
of fighting employed by the Sioux, and
shows more plainly even than the CUSTER
massacre how enormously this ill-advised
expedition, If It is carried outas originally
contemplated, will cost the country in life
and money. In this fight there was no
tuch dispropoitio OF numbers as existed
in the other battle, for Crooks forces in
Guiding about go Indian allies, numbered
1900 men, willie the hostile Sioux were not
more than 1900 warriors Sill told, and per-
haps not so many. Our troops display ed
courage AMI perseverance, but these were
Of 10 avail against n willy foe who has not
the slightest regard for the rules of civil.
lied warfare. aud who will never fight
openly unless he has his adversary at u dis
advantage. Gen. CROOKS men drove the
indiana repeatedly from positions Winch
would have been impregnable, held by
disciplined troops; but rs fast as they
were dislodged from one they took refuge
In another. and were prepared TO repeal
the movement indefinitely. 1t Is THU
method OF fighting which prolongs Indiar
wars SO unfortunately and renders them SC
expensive. Though our troops claim q
have finally won the fight on Rosebud
creek, the actual result WIS q decided
check to Gen. CROOK, and there a grea
gain 10 the Sioux.
To get a correct idea OF the magnitude
OF the war into which we have been s,
needlessly plunged, it is only necessary {.
remember the Modoc war, in which abou
one hundred comparatively tame In
dams deHed the military power OF tn,
United States for weeks and were at las
overcome only through the treachery O
some of their own band. The foe that W,
now have to contend against number
the continent, headed by chiefs who ar,
adopts in strategy; and instead of bein,
hemm ed in by our troops as the Modoc
were in lava beds, they have an area o
thousands of square miles, Astounding II
ma tural fortresses in which to play n
hide and seek with our soldiers. Their,
are 10000 square miles IN the great Siou,
reservation alone, and population o
about 20, 900 upon II, while there are fifteen
OF twenty thousand OF the same warik,
nation upon other reservations, besides
several thousands who have never entered
Into any relations whatever with oul
Government, refusing to make treaties
with it or to acknowledge it in any way.
In what was known as the Cheyenne
war few years ago, it cost the Govern
ment a million dollars for every Indiar
that was killed; while in Florida, some
forty years ago, handful of Seminolei
held out for seven years against the mill
tary forces of the United States, com
manded by some Of the ablest generals we
have ever had. That war cost the country
f10, 900 and about fifteen hundred lives
With these examples in mind. the reader
may form faint conception of what the
new Sioux war is likely 10 cost.
But the worst has not been told. The
effects which may be produced by the Gus
TER disaster and the check upon CRooK are
hishtful 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, aud who may be encour-
aged by these events to assume an attitude
Of open hostility. Should such be the case,
and should general uprising OF the tribes
OF the Northwest occur, the Indians will
undoubtedly carry the war into our I'M
projected frontier settlements, and the
consequences would be horrible indeed.
The progress OF settlement In Mon
tana, Wyoming, Nebraska, Idaho. Colo
RADIO, and New Mexico would receive
sudden check; enterprise in that vast
region would be discouraged. and through
out an area larger than that OF New Eng
Land, the Middle aud the Southern States
combined, the population would be con-