The Cheyenne daily leader. [volume] (Cheyenne, Wyo.) 1870-1884, 1882-04-14
CROOKS
Review or tho seven Years Indian
servlce OF Gen. George Crock.

NHlChkO AlihtSs AlIAlu
Were it our intention to prepare a
biographical sketch, we would and
could go into details upon this engage
ment-a task which we may take up at
a later date.
THE MAIN FEATURES
Of the campaign and its results alone
must claim our attention in this writ
ing. The accuracy of Crooks cool,
exact determination of the enemy's
power received a startling Endorsement
IN less than IA fortnight from the date
OF this engagement. The same Indians
who had withdrawn from Crooks front
precipItated themselves upon the unfor-
tunate Custer, who, with a force
scarcely inferior to that which Crook
commanded on the Rosebud, WAS over
whelmed upon the Little Big Horn.
half Of his men falling with him upon
the bloody field.
To follow through the remainder of
THAT dreary campaign, with Its fruitless
waiting aud watching for the reinforce
lnents which even in coming would
cuunt for but little In u contest with
Tile willy foe III their front, is an lufic-
ion from which the reader may well
ieslre L be spared. In the dresry
commonplace OF military correspond
-nce, bound in all Formally with the
conventional red tape, We hud only one
| CLEAN of what to our mind MAJ DO ta-
Ken rs commOu sense. Crook, 1t is EVIL
deut, had early ~despalred of subduing
the hUstiles with the unaided efforts OF
white soldiers. For the reason We have
already given. aud which no soldier APP
preciated more keenly than Crook him.
self. he determined to supplement LIS
force with u contingent OF auxilaries, IL
be drawn not only from friendly tribes,
but from the bosom of tue hustiles
themselves.
In the very audacity Of this plan
there vas an assurance of success,
which swept away the objections OF
timid critics. 1t was known in the
army, and is known to-day as "Crook'a
plan" Let US not be misunderstood.
other officers had previously used aud
Other officers At that moment urged the
propriety of employing friendly
INDIANS As SCOUTS,
but the scheme to bring in Indians who
had just been on the wal path against
US, or who belonged t bands then Ia
hostility, struck all as chimerical and
insensste. Crook had tried it with
abundant success in California, in
Washington territory, in Oregon, in
Nevada, aud with brilliant results
against the hitherto indomitable
Apaches Of Arizona. 1t was his plan
then; it was his plan now. He argued
in his logical way that an element OF
friendlinesS could be found among the
Sioux and Cheyennes; that element
could be conciliated and made to see
that its interests would be- promoted by
al assisting the government to maintain
order and quiet among their own peo
pie; that the enlistment Of such a de
tachment would withdraw from the ef
f-ctive strength of the enemy and add
'~'sore-heads, and give backbone to the
well-disposed who wished to exchange
the rife for the plOw, the pony for the
farm wagon, the breech-clout and the
blanket for the raiment of civilization.
Strong in his conviction, he set to
work. you can't do it," said the
''old.timers," who opposed this lnnova
tion principally because 1t wasn't laid
down in Tactics and Regulations"-
''you can't do t." "But 1 did i'll
did it in Arizona" replied Crook. "Ob,
those Indians are different. The
Apaches are not like the Sioux. You
can't do it," But Crook did it, never
theless. He soon convinced tie Indians
that he was their best friend, anxious
to defend their rights and foster their
interests, but determined to
STAMP OUT
those who persisted In hostily. He
showed, in a quiet aud undemonstra
tive way, n lively sympathy in the wei
fare Of the Indian and a compassion
for the injustice from which he too Of
ten suffered. When he struck, as strike
he did in the following winter, he
struck hard. When the Indian sued
for peace, our soldiers discovered the
possession of administrative abilities
IT the highest order, and brought them
all to bear in advancing the interests
OF those who so lately had been his foes
The campaign Of the winter Of 1867.
through the frozen valleys of the Pow
der and Little Missouri, in storms dur
ing which the mercury CONCEALED in
the bulb, practically terminated the
destruction If the great Cheyenne vii.
lage of Dull Knife and Little Wolf, in
the latter part Of the month of Novem-
Der. These chiefs. up to this time so
irreconcilsbly hostile. saw that the day
OF settlement was at hand; with our
cavalry charging into their village at
the gray dawn of morning, they dircov.
cred their hereditary foemen-the Paw
nee, %Shoshone, and Bannock, and with
them former friends, the Sioux and
ArapAhoes, and, worst sight of all, a
large body Of their own people. To
continue the struggle against such
odds, they had sense enough to perceive