The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1886-10-03
GENERAL MILES.

It looks as if General Miles were
about to De come up with. The General
is not at all popular in the army. His
reputation is not in harmony with his
achievements, but have been greatly
enlarged by "luck" and cunning meth =
DDS which are not approved by the true
soldier. We have heard that soldiers
say Miles fame as an Indian fighter is
greater on paper than in fact; that the
general has been fortunate at times in
stepping in to close up the excellent
work begun by others, when he would
reap the credit for the real work per
formed By better officers than he;
again, it is said of Miles that he knows
vel the value of publicity, and never
neglee:s to have his own praises
sounded far and wide.
General Miles went to Arizona, and
entered upon the chase of Geronimo
with a blsst of trumpets and a wild
hurrah. General Crook, the ablest In
dian fighter in the army, and one OF
the bravest and best men who ever wore
the blue, had for months been follow
ing the willy old warrior, har1 assing him
almost beyond endurance, and slowly
bnt certainly reducing him to condi-
ton when he would be glad to
surrender. On two or three occasions
Geronimo sought to make terms with
Crook, but the only terms that the lat
ter would accept were unconditional
surrender of the chief. This was the
answer of the true soldier, who under
stood Indian warfare and who realized
that anything except unconditional sur
render by the chief would secure par
tial victory for Geronimo and a CORE
spending defeat of the army and of JUS
tiee.. It was at the time when Crook
would soon have brought the renegade
IN dead or alive, that the general vas
relieved and Miles assumed command.
The latter in the main pursued the
course marked out by Crook, and if he
had continued to the end would have
been deserving of high praise. But he
did not continue to the end; when
Geronimo saw that his race was about
run, that he could hold out only little
longer, the willy old chief attempted
with Miles what he had tried with
Crook, and this time he succeeded. In
his anxiety to get control Of the person
OF Geronimo. to be the hero of the war
riOr's capture, and get the credit
for bringing the war to an
end, Miles accepted the terms of sur
render proposed by Geronimo, humIE-
ating as those terms are to the army
and nation, and satisfactory as they
must be to the chief who thus cheats
the scafold and fastens himself upon
the government as a ward If not a pet
The terms of the surrender have not
been made public, but they are under
stood to b. that GERONIMO and his
followers shall not be surrendered to
the civil authorities, that he shall not be
tried In Arizona, the only place where
1t would be possible to convict him, and
whatever else may be done with him,
he shall not be executed for his crimes.
There was no time after General Crook
began the pursuit of Geronimo that the
latter would not gladly have come in on
such generous terms; it was understood
that he offered even better terms to
Crook, but anything less than uncon-
didonal surrender would not be con
siaered by the soldier who had
a proper regard for the dignity
of the army and who realized that any
thing short of the execution of the muir
derous savage would necessarily be con-
demned by the public and be a mockery
OF justice.
It appears also that General Miles
disobayed orders in granting Geronimo
his own way, and making it impossible
for the government to punish the
vicious hero of many murders and out
RACES. If this be true, Miles will az
least be reprimanded, If not reduced
from his command, in which event
neither soldiers nor citizens will
grieve.