Omaha daily bee., 1883-08-01
INDIAN TACTICS.
How the Redskins DO Battle-Gen,
Crooks Recent Campaign Dis
cussed by n Veteran.

Gen. Hatch, the we'll known Indian
lighter, said to a st. Louis reporter: '"Tht
finest Indian fighter in the army is Geo,
Clook. How, he is an Indian fighter, and
there never was a better one. What are
the qualifications of an Indian fighter
Well, I'll tell you: Pluck and endurance.
He's got to know how TO starve. A white
man can starve an Indian every time.
He can outlast him in everything. 1t is
the men who can starve who can do with
out meat and drink that can f~ightIndians.
Take the country that Crooks has been
over The lava beds that were made ia
nous during the Modoc campaign are
lawns compared to it. The Apaches
were in a country that the word rough
doesn't give n faint idea of. 1t is moth
ing but crsaters, and the crests of which
are no porphyry. Now there's nothing
so easy as to stick a gun into a crevice
in the porphyry and fire away at anybody
OF men thas is approaching. l crossed
over the crest of one of those craters once
and closed in with a body of Indians two
thousand feet below. No, Crook took
things easy. He went along slowly and
rested at places with the idea of taking
the Indians in without any fighting, and
he accomplished it. He had a great many
of my old scouts with him. It's a mis-
taken idea hat Indians are treacherous.
They are soldiers-born soldiers, and are
loyal to whoever they fight for. When
the Indians enlist with you they'll fight
for you to the death. I've seen them
kill their own people, not because they
had any bitter feelings for them, but
because they were ON my side. When
their six months are out, though, then
look out-they are with you no longer.
Asked about Indian tactics, the general
said.
They do not scatter and fight individ-
ually, as is generally supposed, They
fight like soldiers, in a body, undera com
mander, and are military in every sense.
They advance and retire, execute flank
movements, and are up in all the evolu-
tions. I'll never forget" siad the gener-
al with a laugh, ''when l had a handful
of soldiers with me, just after the war in
Texas L believe it was in 1866. A large
body of Indians came down on us, and
from the appearance of things it was all
up with us. We were armed with maya
zine guns-Spencer rifles, which the In
dams had never seen or heard of. They
had the common muzzle loading guns,
and when we massed ourselves together
we could see that they were coming the
old Indian dodge on us, circling around,
coming nearer and nearer, firing arrows
at us, and as they got closer, waiting the
time when we should fire into them, when
they would dash down upon us and get
away with us before we could reload. l
knew what their tactics were, ana l wait
ed the result with the greatest enjoyment.
When they got close up | gave the word
to fire, and bang went the rifles. Then
the Indians came at us as swift as their
horses could carry them. l knew they
were unconscious of the fact that we had
nine loads in each gun, and when at the
word my boys fred again they were thun-
derstricker. They were still ON the
charge when we pumped into them again.
At every fire their men dropped. Then,
when when we fired into them again with
out moving our rifles, they turned and
we put after them still firing. Well you
never saw anything like the demoraliza-
ton among them. They must have
thought the devil was after them. We
chased them as far as we could, but they
were o fast for us and we gave it up.
But tn return to Crooks Indians. In
the fall of 1876 the Chiricahua and Hot
Springs Indians went on the war-path. /
followed them into the country, and, after
a big fisss, defeatisa~. .,e. The next
- 8 - assss.is.. esfS aos Sa' a fSse
~48N~AX -. 70 bIBl 80