The Morning herald., 1878-11-02
GENERAL sBrssDAN AND TIE IN
IN, TbIANSsVI same
STRONG LANGUAGE ON THE INDIAN CUES
, TIoN-sEyERE REFLEcTIoNs ON TRAD

STRONG LANGUAGE ON THE INDIAN VUnb
TIoN-sEyERE REFLECTIONS ON TRAD
ERs AND, CoNTRAcro oas. { I. Z fs,sayi5 " " y
Lieutenant General P, q. sheridaniin bi.
annual report to the General Of the Army
devoted large portion to the Indian ques-
tion. The General ssyss- yhdagF
The stu ,tion in this respect is wholly un-
satisfactory. The Indian Department.
owing to want Of sufficient appropriations,
or from wretchtd mismanagement, has
given to the settlement OF the Western
country constant anxiety during the last
year, and is some places loss Of life and loss
of property, attended with dreadful crimes
and cruelties. There has been an insuffl-
cheney Of food at the agencies, and, 90 the
game is gone, hunger has made the Indians
10 some cases desperate, and almost any
race of people will fight rather than starve.
1t seems to me, with wise management, that
the amounts appropriated by Congress
ought to be sufficient, # practically applied
to the exact purposes specified, and II the
supplies are regularly delivered. But the
reports of the regiment commanders, for
warded herewith would indicate different
result, except in the case of the Red Cloud
and Spotted Tail bands Of Sioux, who, al
though threatening in their conduct, have
been the best supplied and have been hu>
mored until their ,ncre asing insolAnce con-
staptly threatens to bring about breach of
tie peace n,I4 . 4H '51a7s.
had hopes that the agencies of these
Indians would have been retsiDed on the
Missouri River, where they could have been
fed and looked after at comparatively small
expense, hut this would not have suited the
traders and contractors, who, l fear labored
systematically last summer sDd fall to work
up the result which has been obtained and
now these Indians are on worse ground than
the Missouri River bottom, and located ut
points beyond the river lines OF Transporter
tion-for instance, Red Clouds band where
the expense of feeding will be probably five
times as greatss on the Missouri River. In
addition these Indians are Tow located on
the line of travel 10 the Black Hills, and
are on the extreme westain limit of their
reservation, AMI where contact with the
whites is liable to frequent y occur, and
doubt If in the present rame Of mind of the
Red Cloud Indians the Two races can live so
closely together without fighting. There
does not seem TO be now, and there never
has been, much stesdiness IN the manage
ment of the Indians, and If 1t were not for
the results which 30 severely involve the
military this would be nole OF my business
and would not b. mentioned here. a5al
The General, reviewing the condition of
the Indians ten years ago and the causes
leading to their present unhappy state. He
says
The outbreak among the savage tribes
will certainly 60 on unless wise measures
are adopted to prevent them. Already there
have been engagements with the Kiowas,
Commanches, Cheyennes, Nez Perces,
Bannocks, and SoshoDes. The Crows will
come in next; the AssinaboiDes and Gross
Ventres and wild tribes north of the Mis-
souri, will be obliged to follow. Spotted
Tails and Red Clouds people will be driven
10 the same conditions eventually, and so
on downto the tribes In the western part OF
the Iudi4n Territory. ..,. - 10.
To prevent or even avert the calamity
which may occur we are entirely unpre-
pared, for without exposing other import
ant paints, we can collect together but few
Lundl Ell men.
For instance at Fort Sill aud vicinity to
meet the Kiowss, Commsnches, Apaches
and others located In the Iudian Territory,
numbering three thousand or four Thousand
we have not more tuan, three hundred ei-
fective mep. At Fort Reype, to guard
against the CheyenDes aud Arrapahoes,
Dunbering five or six thousand men, we
have not exceeding two hundred effective
ner. Al Red Cloud Agency, where there
are at Ieaet six thousand lpdtaEs, we have
only two companies and could not in ten
days collect over five or six hundred men.
At Spotted Tail we have only tive companies
numbering hundred and nineteen men,
and II would take all the troops we could |
muster, aud they would not number much |
more than five or six hundred Effective meD,
" hile the Indians number noC less han
seven Thousand ami SO on. At points where !
here are Indians and agencies and at other |
,trstegicaI points the number of troops ia
lnsie niflcant, and If outbreaks occur, as |
lear they will, the consequences would be
appalling, and wish to warn the General
Of the.Army that we have not half the
troops required to meet these anticipated
troubles.
The General is of the opinion that kind
treatment, administered with steadiness
and justice, would remove our Western
frontier of all it's appalling horrors arising
from Indian outbreaks. With treatment of
this kind the Indians can be made selEsup-
porting, and In an incredibly short time,
zoo. @' ~ -