The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1878-04-23
More Military Posts.

More Military Posts.
Gen. SHERIDAN has renewed to Congress
his suggestion that n new military post
shall hc established ON Milk river, we'll up
toward the Canada line. The sum that he
thinks might be iudiciously expended for
this purpose is put in round numbers, ut
Sl0O, 600 or Sl500OO-a sum worth consider
ing. 1t j. claimed that this renewed sug-
gcstiun has been made at the request of the
! Senate Committee on Military Affairs. II
SO, this committee, which lately initiated
the measure for building several new forts
on the Rio Grandc, at "A cost Of upward Of
S3O900O, will perhaps explain the urgency
for the proposed expenditure un Min river
The region for which the new fertilization
Il recommended has no settlements what
ever, 80 that there can be ut least no inmc-
date pressure tor the protection Of frontier
families there. In fact, thcrear no settle
| ncuts above the line OF the Missouri, which
| T. we'll stabbed with forts. and none north
| Of the Yellowstone except where wet.
| guarded by ncghboring garrisons At ono
| time the Northern Pacific Railroad held out
visions Of dense population nas-ing up
against the British line. but that cNIect.l-
| ton IL not likely Ia bc realized at present
| MIX river Is north of the most northcrly
! bend al the Missouri, into which l. omptios
and flows through Il country tenantod only
| 10y rowing bands Of Blackfcct, Sioux. Grns
Ncntrcs, Picgan, Crow, and other Indians,
who have been for long time guiltlcss uf
| hostile movements against the distant set
| Elements. and are content TO be left in peace,
| hunting the buffalo
Only year ago two now military posts
were established in the lelluwstuuo and
Bghoru valleys, in what Gen. SHERIDAN
! described as the heart Of the hostile Sioux
country, one heing on the Bighon river
and the other near the junction Of Tongue
river with the Yellowstone. Last July Gen.
SHERMAN began u tour of inspection across
the continent, along the line of the North
Pacific Railroad, and, ON reaching MILES,
cantonment on Tongue river, he reported as
| follows:
" Az 'hc hohs which sNarmcd hcrcahout. iast year
"r" f"n" ''e greater Iir htyit- souc t ne several
Hs'u c. white siri> BrtL has taken refuge tho
hord'r about two hundred ANA MY mi'c, north WAcu
t'e new ,ost j. ni,h,d, which W be- urioc winter tlc
uo'ps VIII D" eomortah, quart,gcd, and tlc Indian,
| cannot return
In the same letter, sent to Mr.. G. w. Nc
| CRARY. Gen. SHERMAN said.
! 81 now rsari The s.ouN Indian problem asa war
put -toa, s,ed hi te operations at cen Minis lat
water aud boy thc c,talhshuou td the iwoncw i...-
on th" yellow stone uuw assured tii, summer
The great mass oi flee nosVs have ir,n forced
the uci,- io and proi, ;ion ~ Lave cl of,s-
ih' ho"cg Inio Ruti,h icgntor.
few days later, Cen SHERMAN proceeded
20 inspect the other post just spoken oi. at
the junction Of the Little Bighorn with tho
Bighorn ct THIS lac wrote 10 MI MCCRARY:
With Tins post and that At the mouth OF Tongue r,rr
occupied hy sir' u- cntcur-ius parrlsons these sonN
Indians can never regain thi country and they u "a he
orrci o ninat their as,no,~ take refuse ilrs
British posscssons Al tiis moment there are no ludl>
nj AN here col d, r,abuut. have s,,u or heard .i nom
Gon snrRin'T saw none any traces any tlai
the principal rni aimed AT iy t' CONSTRUCTION of ulc-c
post, has already teen reached
1t is clear then, that no longer ago than
last summer, Gen. SHERMAN. and prcsum-
ably Gen. SHERIDAN met the former
at the Bghorn post, now known A. Post No
2 regarded these two new posts az suni-
cicnt 10 settle the Sioux and SITTING Bull
problems II is true that the post proposed
for Milk river is very much further 10 the
north, being, indeed, beyond the Missouri
but that fact does not alter the peculiar and
decisive language just quoted, while as W.
have already suggested it cannot he ella iacd
that there has been any northcrly move
mcnt of population sllrc last July, rrqur-
ing new tort on MIX river. The plea for
the military post has. indeed been express
~ putou the ground Of that SIOUX or SITTING
BULLproblom which Gen. SHERMAN dec l.llcd
to need no new fort tor its solution.
That the region recommended for the now
post has strategic advantages need not, and
probably could not, be disputed. Mil, river.
la the extent of the territory it ttaverso-,
unV M rpVurf q : tIp fret natural dot, "a