Omaha daily bee., 1883-04-24
scouts A gainst Regulars.

General Crook, II correctly reported,
"does not believe the Apache Indians
can be successfully fought with regu-
lar troops, and will therefore employ
Indian scouts" A consultation with
the Mexican authorities on this sub.
ject has resulted in an agreement that
such scouts may pursue the Apaches
across the line into Mexico. General
Crook has the reputation Of being the
best Indian fighter in this country
since General Andrew Jackson. Gen.
eral Jackson never fought In6i.ns
With regulars; always with volunteers
enlisted from border citizens, who
knew the Indian habits, were familiar
with all their trails, used to roug-
ing it, were experts with the
rife, and On IN emergency
could find their own arms, horses and
provisions In small squads. General
Crooks active military life has been
spent upon tho frontier, and his prefer
ence for scouts or volunteers must BIO
the result of experience. The best
fights against the Indisns--Rogue
Rivers, Sioux, Cneyennes, Cayuses,
Utes, BsnnackS, Grows and Conan.
ohes--have been made by volunteers;
the worst by regulars, No volunteers
ever made such blunders as Cnster's
regulars on the Rosebud, Major
F~etterman's In the same region, and
General Braddock's on the Mo.
nongahela. The most effective forces
engaged In the long Seminole war
were battalions Of Shawnees and Della
wares, under command Of their chief,
Parks, q half.breed Indian, used to
border warfare. Forty years ego,
when Fremont tracked the Apaohes Of
| New Mexico and beAt them at their
own game Of hide and seek, 1t was
with scouts like Kit Carson, Alexan-
der Cody and other frontiersmen.
And 1t was by Joe Lane and his Ore.
CONAN volunteers that the terrible
Rogue river tribe was reduced to
peace; while about the same
time the Texas Rangers all
border men-were breaking the back
Of the once great Comanohe nation.
The "dark and bloody ground" OF
Kentucky did not owe 1t to regulars,
but to scouts Of the Daniel Boone and
Ksnton type, that their land was res.
cued from Indians 80 savage and more
numerous than the Apaches. Indiana,
Kentucky and Ohio volunteers, under
command OF volunteer Captains, Col.
onels and Generals, won the desperate
battles Of Tppecauoe and the Thames,
! while regulars under Harmer and St..
Clair were defeated d~isgraoefully by
the same tribes.
These experiences of the past fully
justify General Crooks preference for
the scout soldier. In Indian war and
pursuit the drill and discipline of the
camp are worthless. The main
regulates In Indian warfare are to find
the savages where they Gar be fought
to advantage, to know the ground, to
have the tact and energy for pursuit
In small detachments, and, hard a. the
admission strikes at humanity, to show
10 little mercy to the Indians as they
show to the whites. determination
Is the only policy against some
tribes. The regulars are never
allowed this barbarous privilege. The
scout always takes It, and no questions
are asked. If It Is adopted against the
renegade Apaohes of Arizona there
will be no room for pity, since II Is
only playing back upon them the tao.
tics they always follow toward the
whites. But 1t raises the question,
"What is the use Of q regular army,
seeing that the troops are not reliable
to fight Indians, and az fighting In
disns Is commonly supposed to be
about all the use we have for them2'
1t Is not q sufficient reply that we
need regulars to mar our forts and
camps; because nearly all the forts
aud camps are for the protection of
border regionsagainst Indians. There Ia
certainly nothing In the enforced en-
ployment of volunteer scouts In Ari-
zona, where several regiments Of reg
ulars are constantly kept ut q great
expense, to justify the call In certain
army circles for an increase OF the
regular army; but rather a reasonable
suggestion that 1t would save expense
and increase protection to the whites
to disband a few regular regiments
and fill their places with lrregulars,
as the situation might demand. ABIDE
from Its oonyertibility Into q tolsrably
organized national police force for such
extraordinary OCCASIONS ~ mobs and
tumults In the great cities, it Is be-
coming apparent that the regular army