Bozeman avant courier. [volume] (Bozeman, Mont.) 1872-1882, 1878-06-27
Whole No., 3444

CN ti tie intilan BtirC.. |. Now. consider
ing the contact between the hostile Sioux
and Nez ferces, with their willy leaders en-
dcaVorin@ to form coalitions. and that their
principal obstacle. their own antagonis,i,
has been removed. is it at all nanickv in us
to fear repetition of the sceres that oc-
CURED under TecumSeh and the Prophet.
and during the southern confederation and
during the Black Hawk war. when we know
that they might rise upon cur settlements.
and there is not Il single soldier there be-
tween thcni ard the Missouri river.
This district. containing some twtntx-
i've Thousand Indians according to the cen
sl'> oi The Department. is occupied l., tw3
small regiments of Infantry and three conf
paileS OF Cavalry under General Cibbon.
But between the annual Rendezvous at the
buffalo grounds and the settlements on the
Missouri river there is not a single soldier.
neither Is there on the river itself althoitpli
1t is the artery OF our commerce on which
thirty or forty steamers constantly ply.
Loaded with thousands of lives and mill
lions of property. they are constantS stib-
iected tr and frequently are attacked. The
been abandoned for years as unsafe Upon
this line there is not Il single soldier True;
the authorities have asked and the military
committees have rccommendeda a new post,
but the bill has not yet passed, and when
the post Is built ii must be nairisOned
Farther south and east is the line of the
Yellowstone. from Which the hosties have
/ hnl al q.
leys have been the scene of unrcmitting;
unrelentln". never-ceasing warfare. But
the clash Of that distant conflict never at
tracted the attention of this House Until
the day when the death of Custer and his
troopers startled its lcthar"ic ears. Men
glibly prated then, as men glih,y pmte
now. OF general peace when we had eener-
al war. In vain my predecessors and my
self plead for the establishment of posts
upon that river. In vain the officers called
for them and the military committees of
! this House and the other sent their bills to
your desk. Under our rules one oblectior
ended them; and a man WAS ,cuntl who,
strong i'll his own conceit and devoted to
one idea persistently made that objection.
And it was not until the white robe of his
goddess of economy was crimsoned BY the
blood Of that massacre that he sat With
dumb lips and let the bill go through with
out objection.
The death o! Custer and his men -tas il
itself an awful ,alamity, but it was The best
thing that ever Happened for our poor
country. In that sacrifice was our saliva
ton. Now protected by two posts, COM
manded by that cnegetic and gallant Off
Ger. General Miles, the model OF the yoll.n-
tccr officer who graduated in the school of
our civil war, the district of the YellAw-
stone, only disturbed by the spec.tf of Sit
ting Bulls return, rests III comparative
peace, ana 4 thousand humble homes have
risen upon the river banks within the past
year: =.
Our 'ine Gf travel to the railway crosses
another lrdian reservation where the Sho-
shOnes have been all wintcrupon the point
of rising-some twenty-five hundred, con-
tronted only by one small company of In,
tantry at Fort Hall.
But gentlemen say this all the fault Of
management. Why do they not take the
troops from some other place and put then;
where needed? Where will they take them
from: From Idaho. whose fields are still
smoking with the blood of the last out
break of peaceabie and civilized Indians:
Three hundred and sixty soldiers present
for duty on paper. under Wheaton. are
scattered at different points, watching fif
ty-SN hundred Indians in that TERRITORY
From Wyoming, until last season raitled to
the streets OF its railroad towns. Some OF
the posts there are to be broken up rha'
is the economy of Il railroad. VIII you
take them from Dakota, the home of the
great cJntedcrated tribe whose name it
bears, with O,9ll Indians and 1916 troops:
From Colorado, where this House recent
ly asked why better provision was not
made against a threatened uprising OF the
ties?
VIII you take them from the Indian Ter
rltory, where. besides policing some fifty
thousand civilized Indians, seven hundred
troops are guarding nineteeE thousand
wild ln'.ians, bit lately OH the war-path.
who were pot oil the reservation only last
year. ard who are ready to break out a.
sddn as you pass this bill to reduce the
army: General Davidson, in letter to
the gentleman from Texas tMr. Throck-
moron) says that he can hardly restrain
them now. From Utahf There are bu.
few there and all are needed.
Can yor take them away from Texas,
where you have been unable to maintain
the frontier, established by the Spaniards,,
against the Indians Or the border cstab-
llshed by your treaty against the Mcslc.hss
The Texan delegation can sptak for them
selves, and the frontier people can thank
heaven that they can vote as well as talk
on this bill. From New Mexico, where.
besides the Pueblos and Marcopas, there
are fifteen thousand of the most ifatfise
Indians on the continent that have, ttf and
on, fought the Spaniards fbr tvs hundre,F
years, and fought your troops almost un-
ceasingly since the conquest; quiet to-day,
but where there has been one uprising since
this Congress met and may be another be
fore we adjourn: Is six hundred and forty
nine troops an extravagant number to
watch those Indians on the Mexican Dor
der i'so:
There the hammer fell,
The Chairman-The tlme ~ the GENT
man has expired.
MIR. COrlett--tt tho gentleman from
Montana Mr.. MaSinnisl will withdraw hi,
amendment viii renew it and yield nv
lime To him.
Mr.. Maginnls-r Withdraw the amend
nent.
Mr.. Core,t-f renew the amendment and
field to The gentleman from Montana rMr.
slaginnis.I
Mr.. Maginnis-Will YOU obtain thcrl