Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1883-06-14
GEN. CROOK.

Tie One Officer WhO KmO'cs the Indian.
IN Y. Cor. Cincinnati Enquirer
We often wonder whether, in our military
| British commanders like Lord Give, Have
lock and Wolseley. The case of Gen.
| Crook may safely be matched against that
of any modern hero. He is the most re-
markable physical individual in this coun-
| try operating for respectable uses and for
| civilization. He has constructed the art of
| Indian warfare on entirely new plans, or
| rather upon the same plans which were en-
ployed by Sir William Johnson of New
York, and by Washington in Virginia, 100
years ago. That is to say, Crook has made
a study of the Iudian character, and has
found one general rule applicable to them
| all, namely, that they are faithful in war,
and that their genius is in cum
| ming and warfare, and is not generally
good outsidd of those matters. Being
himself faithful man in both his govern
ment and his personal obligations, he
trains Indians to pursue Indians, and goes
| along himself to see that it is properly
done, and to prove that he can take any
risk another warrior can, and that he
means fidelity by being close at hand.
No man can command Indians whom
they do not admire for his kindred quail
ties with them, such as endurance, person
al resources and courage. Therefore Gen.
Crook is almost the lone star of Indian
| fighters in our army, where there are sew
| erai good ones. But others fight according
to West Point ideas. Crook blends the
Indian and regular method of fighting,
very much like Gen. Washington in his
order to Anthony Wayne, when he was
sent out to retrieve st. Glars disaster. 1
have often instanced that order of Wash
ington as a proof of his military genius,
which has been disputed by great many
| witers. He orders Wayne to march by
both an open and a close order, so as to
scatter, yet keep his men within easy raj
| lying distance of each other, that sur
prise may not scatter them, etc.
About eleven years ago l had talk with
Gen. Crook in San Francisco, in which l
asked him to explain his system of OPP
Grating against the Apache Indians in Ari-
IONA, whom he had just defeated. He told
me that he either took Apaches, or kindred
Indians whom he had won over, and had
them to trail the band he meant to fight,
and that he and his soldiery followed
| days march or so behind, travelling chiefly
by night, so as to escape the desert heat,
and sleeping under the sagebrush, or
whatever shade could be afforded by leaf
or hill. His crafty spies located the In
dams and brought him word, and he gen.
orally fell upon them by surprise. He
adopted this policy both in Oregon and
Arizona, and gave peace to those settle
ments for long period of years.
The Apaches, however, like q snake have
many lives, because they are divided into
many bands. A portion of them were
originally magnifcentIy mounted and
armed, and raided into the middle of Mex
leo from the mountains of Arizona. They
were disposed to be friendly to the Ameri
cans, but in course of time their predatory
system Influenced the settlers, and brought
on collisions. so severe were the Apache
fortunes of their prisoners that bands Of
their kindred were massGcred while IN mil
itary camps by the settlers. After Crook
broke up the old bands of Apaches there
were still rowing guerilla clements, which
appeared to be reinforced from the inte-
rior of Mexico. But these Indians made no
peace with the Mexicans, their more
ancient enemies, and consequently the two
governments, looking toward the tranquil
ity of the railroad travel now extending
through these very regions, resolved to CO.
operate.
Crook was the genius of the expedition.
He is one of those men who is never be-
midland for hard, desperate service, hav-
ing a real genius for war, and probably
respectable ambition to procure promotion
even during these times of peace. By his
operations against the Apaches in 1871 he
was advanced from Northumberland or
colonel to brigadier-general, skipping a
good many officers who thought that pro-
motion ought not to depend on enterprise.
Ready to win another star or two, go up in
the list of leading colonies or genial b1iga-
diers, Crook has taken gladly upon himself
the hazardous opportunity of distinctive
ly foreign war, though waged under the
consent of the invaded government. No
wonder that jealousy has sprung up on the
Mexican side of the line among those
drones who publish country newspapers
and find it more easy to arouse Mexican
jealousy than to suppress Irdian outrages.
George Crook entered West Point in
1848, SO that he is, judge about fifty -one
years old. He was put out in California
as socn as he graduated, and served at once
against the Indians whom he
has now known for thirty years.
he was WOuuUSu WIN an
arrow twenty-five years ago. The REBEL
ion called him away from eight years of
Indian encounters to the contest of civiliz-
ed forces, and he began in West Virginia,
was wounded there, was promoted for gal
liant services at Antietam, then served in
the western armies at the head of divi-
sion of cavalry, and at Chickamauga,
broke up the gUerillas, went on several
raids, served under Sheridan, and was
taken prisoner by his subsequent brother
in-law most inhospitably at Cum
berland but very soon released.
He was in all Sheridan's great battles,
commanded all the cavalry of the Army
of the Potomac for while, and was in
the big pursuit to Appomattox. At
the close of the war he was a lieu
tenant-colonel, and from that time to
this ne has been the eagle of Indian
| fighters.
When 1 saw him last he was long, lean
man, loosely put together, with a rather
shy, strange face, as if he had partly
turned into an Indian. He is an Ohio boy.
Anything wild seems tame to Crook. He
wants no friends and can be with very little
| Duripcr tho ho ,ouob