River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1878-11-07

lorn hope, and was attended Mi'n
:. loss of life unparalleled IN warfare
No quarter was given 10 tne sa.a-
gcs. and the officers and men had 70 ell'er
on their duties with the most pafoarous "
elites staring them in the lace AZ oese
of defeat. Nor was this mlsfortnhe ooii,iit-
ed 10 the soldier; it extended 10 the settler
who was himself killed, or came nome 70 see
his wife and children murdered anu nis
stock stolen. Such, in truth, has been the
contest on our western frontier during the
last ten years. 1t would have been less ex-
,,ensive If an army of 10000 or 10000 had
been maintained, and, moreover, the blood
of Gallant officers. soldiers, and citizens
would not have rested on our hands. ms,
then, was
THE FIRST CAUSE oFOUR INDIAN WAiHS'
They would have occurred, no matter
what course or policy the government might
have adopted. We could not deprive these
primitive people of their homes where they
had lived in barbarous eontentment for cen
turies without war, and the only thing
strange about these wars was the manner
and means adopted by the government TO
meet them.
The second outbreak of Indian hostllltIes
| is caused in this way. After he has lost ms
country he finds himself compelled to re-
MAN on reservations. his limits clrcum-
| scribed, his opportunities OF hunting
abridged, his game disappearing, sickness IN
| his lodge from change of life and food, and
insuffieiency of the latter, and this irregular
| ly supplied, and the reelection coming to him
of what he now is, and pinched by hunger,
| creates a feeling of dissatisfaction which, In
| the presence of good strong force of sol
diers, started him out on the path again,
and unarmed people are killed, settlements
are broken up, farms are abandoned, ana
general confusion exists. TINS condition OF
affairs is well illustrated by tie recent out
break of Northern Cheyennes, who latt ~
abandoned their reservation at Fort Reno'
and the same migh6 be sa OF the
outbreak of the Nez Perces last year, and
certainly of that of the Bannocks and Sho-
shones in this year, of the Cheyennes,
| Kiowas, and Commanches in 1874, and I'M
less wiser measures prevail hereafter it will
90 on. The Grows will come in next, the
Assinabolnes and Gray Nentres and wild
tribes north of the Missouri will be obliged
to follow. Spotted Tails and Red Clouds
people will be driven to the same conditions
eventually, and so on down to the tribes IN
the western part of the Indian Territory. 10
prevent or even meet the calamity which
may occur, we are entirely unprepared, for,
without exposing other important points, we
can collect together but few hundred
men.
Now that the game, upon which the ILdi.
ans depended for their regular supply OF
food, is gone, we shall require great sup
ply of rations with perfect regularity in Its
issue. to meet the needs of these people, to
cether with a strong and stable government
backed up 10y q sufficient number of soldiers
to enforce a spirit of obedience, and to keel
these restless savages within the limits o.
their reservations.
In answer to the frequent remarks about
THE GOOD MANAGEMENT OF THE INDIANS II
BRITISH AMERICA,
| it is only necessary for me to state that they
have never had the conditions existing there
which we have had here. They never hac
10 encounter tide of emigration which for
chilly took away the lands of the Indians
and which was SO great no government
could resist it, ana which not only
absorbed their lands, but killed the game OF
which the Indians subsisted. Consequently
the conditions then we're brought down t
simply making a profitable trade with thu
Indians, and to further this they lntermar
ried, and the indian being the most clannisl
of all existing races (hls only government
being that of clans), they gradually EXTENDED
their influence by the Indians regarding
them as part of their own people. Ihi
was notably the case with the Hudson Ba.
company, which almost every agent, from
Gov Douglass down to the simple employe
took an Indian wife, and thereby EXTENDED
the influence of their government and trad
by this plan of assimilation.
1t is scarcely necessary to mention to tn
general of the army that to accomplish tn
changes which have described was the dut.
which
THE HANDFUL OF TROOPS IN THIS DIVISION
has been performing for the past ten years
and no body of men of the same size wa
ever before SO hardly taxed, mentally an'
physically, or compelled 70 make such haz
ardous and exacting marches; and no bod.
of men of equr' numbers ever overcame s.
many embarrassing obstacles in their unequa
contest with willy savages, and none eve
lost SO heavily in officers and men. Thei
battles, as heretofore mentioned, were
series of forlorn hopes, mainly on accoun
of the inadequacy of the number of troop
engaged, and the peculiarities OF savag
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