Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1882-11-23

= THE report of Lieutenant Genera
, Sheridan to the Adjutant General of til,
/. United States Army on the state of hi!
, Division during the past year contain:
some interesting information respecting
/ military affairs and progress in the
, West. The division comprises the De
: partments of Dakota, the Platte, the
Missouri and Texas, commanded by
Brigadier Generals A. H. Terry. George
Crook, John Pope and c. C. Augur, re
i spectively. 1t contains altogether sixty
four permanent posts, besides number
of camps aud sub-posts, and is garrison
ed by seven regiments of cavalry, nine
teen regiments of infantry and four bat
teries of light artillery. The force ag-
gregates 1854 officers and men, distrib-
uted as follows: 1892 in the Department
of Dakota, 2,040 in the Department of
the Platte, 1926 in the Department of
Missouri, and 2,796 in the Department
of Texas. The total effective force is
13.406, the remainder being detailed to
garrison the cavalry and infantry schools
at Fort Leavenworth.
I'm his report General Sheridan says !:
"The two largest Indian Agencies in
the Platte country, viz, the Pine Ridge
and Rosebud Agencies, have to be con-
trolled principally by troops in the De-
partment of the Platte. Many thou
sands of Indians are at each of these
Agencies; those at Pine Ridge occasion
ally become restless, and l think it
would be wise to watch them, with suf
ficient troops held we'll in hand, for some
time to come.
"There has been ne serious trouble
with Indians in the Department of the
Missouri during the past year, though
the troops in New Mexico have been
kept actively engaged in protecting that
territory against raids, for the details of
which would refer to the annual re-
port of General Pope. The remainder
of the Northern Cheyennes at Fort Reno
are very restive, but do not appreheId
any serious trouble from them. The
rights of Indians In the Indian Territory
have been encroached upon by the pas
turing and driving of large herds of cat
tie through the Indian lands. No uni
form system seems to have been adopted
by the Indian Bureau with reference TO
these herds, the owners of some of them
paying herd tax to the Indians, whilst
others do not, so that, on several occa-
sions, the military have been called upon
to quell troubles arising from the mixed
condition of affairs.
"The posts of Fort Dodge, Fort Wal
lace and Fort Larned, all in Kansas,
having outlived the necessity for them
as military stations, have been abandon
ed as such. The cantonment on the
North Fork of the Canadian River, in
the Indian Territory, has also been
abandoned and turned over to the Indian
Bureau for use as a school. | recon-
mend that Forts Wallace, Dodge and
Larned be also turned over to the Indian
Bureau for similar purposes.
"The school of application for cavalry
and infantry, established at Fort Leav-
enworth, Kansas, last year, is in excel
lent condition, is already showing good
results, and believe is going to be of
immense benefit to the army as prac
tical school.
"The wonderful growth of the railway
system in this Division is worthy of re
LII al III COuuDCtlOAl WIN lIo OCStl
upon military operations. The extension
of the Northern Pacific toward Bozeman
has already been noted, and the Utah
and Northern has reached Butte City,
Montana, 416 miles north of Ogden. The |
Denver and Rio Grande is in operation |
to Montrose, so miles west of Gunnison, |
an the Utah Division, and to Silverton,
fOrty-four miles from Durango, Colora-
do, on the San Juan Division. the At
lantic and Pacific, having crossed New |
Mexico from Albuquerque to the west,
has now reached Williams, Arizona, a |
point about the 112th- meridian. Last
year marked the completion of the
Southern Pacific to Ell Paso, whence the
Mexican Central is now running to Chi |
huahua, in old Mexico-the Texas Pa
cific, from Fort Worth. connecting with
both the others at FL Paso, a point |
reached also by the Atchison, Topeka
and Santa Fe. The Galveston, Harris
burg and San Antonia Railroad is in op-
Grafton westward to Fort Clark, Texas,
and eastward, from Ell Paso to Lozier,
near the Pecos River. The International
and Great Northern is in operation from
San Antonio to Laredo, where it con
meets with the Texas-Mexico and Mexi-
co and Mexican National Roads, the
former in operation from Corpus Christi
to Laredo, and the latter constructed to
Salinas, far on the way to Monterey and
the City of Mexico.
"The extension of the railroads affords
an opportunity for much needed con-
centration of the small companies of
troops into larger garrisons where they
can be more economically supplied and
their discipline and efficiency increased
hitherto almost impossible
when weak companies were scnttered at
numerous small military posts. / have
already selected points with a view to
such a concentration, as soon as the con-
dition of Indian affairs will admit of the
of troops from the more re-
mote places. -: