New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1886-06-01
FIGHTING THE AP1CHES.

1t ia said that General Miles is determined to
introduce new methods of fighting the ADaches,
and that he intends to rely much less than Cen
eral Crook did upon Indian scouts One of tho
new experiments is the employment of Il body
of frontiersmen and cowboys, though 1t Is dill
emit TO see how these can elect more than has
been accomplished heretofore by troops whom
years of this special service had trained to the
highest degree of efficiency compatible with
the maintenance Of discipline. AS to the In
dian scouts it is to be remarked that all the
army officers who have worked with them
testify to their loyalty and great usefulness.
The most experienced fighters go 80 far
as to say that it is hopeless to pursue the CHR
icahuas without scouts belonging to the same
tribe. They assert that these Apachcs are the
most formidable and elusive Indians in the
country that no white men, whatever their
training, can equal them in endurance. rapid
ity of movement knowledge of the country. and
capacity for cOnceament; that only men OF
their own blood can cope with them IN their
own mountains; and that consequently to
abandon the Indian scout system is to make
the problem insOluble.
Bloodthlrsty and cruel as they are, these
Chlricahuas never fight for the love of battle.
The Plains Indians will sometimes engage in a
stand-up fight with troops. The Apaches, how
ever, never expose themselves. They will not
fire upon troops unless they are so thoroughly
ambushed that retaliation is impractcable.
Their one object at such times is to Kill their
enemies, and to do this with minimum of risk
to themselves So cunning and siiliu are they
in hiding their tracks that even their own
hOrsemen, when on scouting duty, have often
failed to detect their vicinity and have ridden
unsuspectingy into amDushcs. Attempts have
often been made to compel them to surrender
by cutting them off from the water-hOles but
either the hostilcs knew Of some spring not
guarded, or their endurance enabled them to
survive deprvatiOns which would have killed
the finest troops in the world, for in most in :
stances they refused to submit and ultimately
got away. The Indian scouts alone are able to
follow and find them, and if these auxllianes
had been eliminated it is almost certain that
such successes as have been obtained III the
past would have been wanting.
AS to fronticrsmeu, while they are hardy,
brave and pcrsc venng, there seems ground
for expecting that they will do much better
than the seasoned troops. Certainly they have
not the endurance of the Chiricahuas, who are
in this as superior to ordinary Indians as the
latter are to unframed white men. The truth
is that these Apachcs possess all the physical
qualifications of the most agile aud snewy wild
beasts, with human intelligence supcraddcd.
and the resulting combination is one which has
thus far ba1cd the best efforts of oar most
experienced and intrepid Indian fighters. Ii
really looks as if the only practical way of
subduing them was to extend instead of curtai
ing the Indian scout system. For the struggle
is one from which the character of the country
excludes the helps of civilization. Whoever
conquers the Chiricahuas, that is to say, must
do so with their own weapons and tactics; and
since experience has proved that white men
cannot meet them on equal terms, recourse 20
the Indian scout system appears not merely
inevitable but demanded by the sOundest
judgment. General Miles. however, will Try his