The Arkansaw traveler., 1888-03-03
HOW INDIANS FIGHT.
St. Louis Post. Dispatch.

'1 have had many years experience as purchaser of saddle horses" re- marked a major of cavalry on his way to Chicago, to a Post Dispatch re- porter in the corridor of the Southern hotel this morning, "having been a member of horse boards for the last thirty years, and having bought cav airy horses for the United States ser- vice. I therefore feel that 1 know whereof speak when I say that the supply of good saddle horses in the country is smaller than it has been at any time since the war. l do not mean that there are fewer thorough breds, for there are probably more, but horses suitable for other purposes than racing and park use are becom- ing rarer every day, and although the price paid by the government is higher than it has been for the last twenty years, it is very difficult to secure proper mounts for the cavalry, while ten, or even five years ago at least, three times as many horses able to pass muster were presented as the ad- vertisements called for The horses that were raised in the country dis tricts of Kentucky and Missouri were splendid animals for all-around use, but now there seems to be nothing between the weedy, delicate racer good for mile dash, but who would break down in three-days' forced march, and the heavy animal that does excel lently for wagon or light artillery use, but is too slow and clumsy for the cavalry. Even when we get a horse that has at once bone and stam- ina, it is nearly always the case that he has long back, that curse of the cavalry horse, for weak kidneys are inevitably the result after one seasons campaign. Horse boards now have to go over the country with fine- toothed comb to find the active, short coupled horses that are the best for service and which used to be found on every large farm. Unless something is done by the breeders the splendid saddle horses for which the Mississippi valley once was famous will entirely disappear.
 "I have served on the plains nearly continuously for more than thirty five years," continued the speaker, land am tolerably familiar with all the features ot cavalry life. A cavalry man always has frontier station and only sees civilization during his brief leaves. Civilians do not realize the hardships and exposures to which a cavalryman is subjected. He has sea- sons of idleness, but also long periods of great exertion, and as proof of the effect on his life it can be safely stated that scarcely one man out of ten reaches the age of forty five without being seriously broken down. Indian campaigns are the cause of this. have fought and chased Indians from the British lines to the Rio Grande, and know what campaigning means. The Indians always get tremendous start of the cavalry and seldom are overtaken. The army has been blamed for it's ill success, but when the circum- stances are understood it is wonderful that so much has been accomplished. The Indians never attempt to commit outrages in the vicinity of an army post, and news seldom used to arrive wv Ohty -AOuA hOufc udO elapsed and the Indians had long start. Nearly always they are pro- vided with remounts, the loose horses being driven before the band, and when an animal shows signs of fatigue another is remounted and the flight continued on a fresh animal. Horses are also stolen wherever met with, and the consequence is that the trooper who is confined to the use of single animal, has poor chance of overtak. ing the Indians. As general thing they can fight or escape as they please and never do the former except wher in overwhelming numbers. The fa. tigues of one of these fruitless marches generally made on short nations to Sc. cure celerity of movement by avoid. ing carrying baggage, can well b' imagined, and the condition of mal