The daily gazette., 1877-12-29
From the New York Sun.
ONLY 1873 MEN IN THOSE SIX COM
PANIES.


ONLY 1888 MEN IN THOSE SIX COM
PANIES.
When Gen. Gibbon was fighting Chief
Joseph there were in the army 222OI
men.
Gen. Gibbon attacked the Nez Perces
chief with six companies OF infantry. The
majority ofthe House of Representatives
has been bitterly reproached with the fact
that there were only 1873 men in these six
companies. An orator of waste and an ad.
vocate of privilege made a picture in the
debate of Nov. that would have been
touching had it not been absurd of Gibbon
riding on his marches with a rifle over his
shoulder-a Brigadier-G General reduced to
the ranks by the smallness of his force and
obliged 10 fight like one of the rank and
hle. The point was not a clumsy one But
no amount of money would have hired
Gen. Gibbon, or any other man who set
value on his life to follow a hostile Indian
trail without rifle in his hand Gibbon
carried long range weapon of defence as
man, and not as a soldier,
1t was howled through the House of Rep
resentatives that, owing 10 the niggardly,
unpatrlotic, and criminal reduction of the
army, Gibbon was Obliged TO attackJ oseph
with only 1873 men. With matchless ef.
trontery, the advocates of privilege and
sinecures endeavored to show that there
were not troops enough in our depleted
amy to give Glbbon larger force. But
the fact was that during the whole of the
Nez Perces war there were on extra and
civil service duty 3,O16 soldiers: there were
| in the city of Washington, misapplied to
| civil service, 500 enlisted men; there wa""
I - '-~---- 49, -----.se. -rOrh tnan eat
ing sleeping, and loafing, 1,465 in South
Carolina, 1892 in Louisiana, and III all the
Southern States ,253; there were oflrivates
in the artillery, idly chewing rations at
fancy posts on the seabord, 2, ,35I; there were
IN the aggregate thousands of soldiers in
the 2l2 military posts in the United States
whose only service was to make a sem
blance OF commands for captains and liel-
tenants, and help their housekeeping as
| servants. Scarcity Of soldiers to fight
| Joseph and his handful of Indians! There
were $4,000 men available, at the very least
They super abounded Now here on the
| Atlantic sea board, nowhere in the South
except western Texas, nowhere on the
Canadian border, or the line of the great
| lakes, were they wanted. In all that re.
slon officers and men could have been
happily spared in large numbers for use in
luao, Montana, and Dakota and the tax
payers would have b. en- delighted to see
lHeln go. But the Military Ring WOuld
| not let them go. The army is great family
comfortably established in housekeepinp
among those 2l2 posts; and 1t is supreme
| Jaw IN inns family TO keep each other un-
| ulsturbed in domestic happiness
NO troops to fight Joseph and his four
| hundred! The TweLty- second regiment of
| infantry was in Wilkesbarre, Pa where
congressman Wright says of his positive
| knowledge, neither private nor officer,
| Musket nor sabre of il was needed The
eighteenth Regiment was in Pittsburgh.
Ihe Thirteenth was in Scranton. The
4fWiGnty-Inlru was III kansas, where wild
lndlan cannot possibly be found The
| SlAteenth was mostly in Kansas helping
| me Twenty-third to do nothing The
J Fourteenth was In Utah, and the Mormons
| were al peace. The Twelfth was mostly
| IN California, which needs soldiers as much
as vermont does. These infantry regiments
| were no 1aore wanted in the States and
places where they We're than they were
| wanted IN the Princeton TheOlopical
| Seminary. So IL was with the five Tegi'
ments of artillery, when this dishonest cry
OF want OF troops To fight Indians was liftec
up UP against economy ahd republicanism.- -
me flrst regiment was wholly in Rhode
| Island and Pennsylvania. The Secont
kaglment was in Maryland, Pennsylvania
ana the District of Columbia. The Third
was IN New YORK harbora and Pennsylvania
me Fourth was mostly in California. TIL,
Fltth was in Pennsylvania, lorida AM
J ! South Carolina. The enlisted men of thes
J artillery regiments have sll been drilled II
| the use OF the musket and as infantry The
are available as infantry at any moment
Iney could all have been sent TO Idaho an
Glpooh. Ihey were of no earthly use wher
, lney were, but, On the contrary, were
constant burden and drain on the produ ut
: i've labor OF the country. Why were the
MEN,