The Cheyenne daily leader. [volume] (Cheyenne, Wyo.) 1870-1884, 1879-08-12
GEN. N. A. MILES.
A Good Commander With Good Rec
ord. Elr

From the N. Y. Mail. ~.
If there is anything Gen. Miles dis
likes it is to be called an Indian fighter
The impression is general that he is q
rash, happy:go lucky sort of soldier,
striking bee line for redskin every
time he sees one, and finding something
peculiarly attractive in the rapid kill.
ing off of the nations wards. This is
an erroneous idea of him. He is a
careful commander, as much aquarter-
master as general, land more the
former than the latter until he is in
the presence of the enemy,'' as cor
respondent of the Herald says. He
lies awake at night thinking of his
plans. He makes more extensive de-
mands on the commissariat than any
other commander. But this is not ex-
travagance. On the contrary it is
economy. He is always sure to have
his men we'll provisioned, for then he
will get out of them all the work of
which they are capable. "When he
received the news of Joseph's escape, y
says the correspondent, ''there was an
exciting time at Fort Keogh. During
the night he crossed his command over
the Yellowstone and galloped away
toward the Bear Paw mountains.
Had he been the reckless commander
that the current press reports assert.
lie would have forgotten to have dis
patched Il courier TO Bismarck with a
request to send steamer to the mouth
of the Musselshell with supplies That
little forethought gave him base of
supplies and saved his command"
The following is General Miles rec
ord: i-ifad lHfa
In 1874 lie engaged the Cheyennes,
Comanches and Kiowas in Indian
territory and northwestern Texas, and
when he got through with them Sheri-
dan said IN his official report of the
campaign that it was the 'smost sue
cessful Indian war ever waged upon
the American continent" After the
| Custer massacre in 1876 Miles and his
regiment were ordered into the Yellow
stone country. He met Sitting Bull on
Cedar creek and beat him. Miles
formed a hollow square and fought him
on four sides. He kept his forces NOV
ing in that shape and gave the hostiles,
outnumbering him three to one, nc
opportunity to close in ON him. Fol.
lowing up that success he forced ,20C
Minneconjours and Sans Arcs to sur.
render. On Red Water creek Capt.
Baldwin, of Miles regiment, encoun-
tered Sitting Bull and gave him his last
drubbing before crossing the Missouri
and taking refuge in the asylum across
the line. In January, 1877, Miles
whipped Crazy Horse in the Wolf
mountains and forced him 20 flight no
more, forever" in the language of Jo-
seph. In the spring Crazy Horses
band, with the exception of Lame
Deer, surrendered. Miles got after his
detachment and soon brought him in.
Then followed his capture Of Joseph,
and, in 1873, his success in taking in
taking in the Bannocks, near the Yel-
lowstone Park. If success is reckless
ness, Miles is the most reckless general
in the army. 81
This gallant and successful general
never permits himself to be surprised,
never loses his head, never is cruel,
never attacks the Indians unnecessarily
never fails to guard inr every possible
way against either want or excesses
among his men, and is model COM
mander so far as he has had an oppor-
tunity to act. 1t would undoubtedly
be to the interest of the government to
be less niggardly towards him in men
and means, and he stands forth, amid
all the abuse heaped upon him, as a
man of whom we may be proud.