Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1890-07-17
A PECULIAR KIND OF WsRFaRE,
PeculiaritieS and Difficulties of Making
War the Indians.

Making war on Indians is unlike any
other war making in which armies en-
gage. Finding them, not fighting them.
is the difficult problem to solve. If the
reader will consider that the theatre of
operations in any Indian campaign
whether in Wyoming. Dakota, the In
dian Territory and Texas. or Arizona
is about as large as the New England
States with New York added; that each
of these possible theatres of war is an
uninhabited wilderness; that they are
without roads. and often impenetrable
for hundreds of miles because of arid
deserts or impossible mountain ranges;
that while all parts of each Territory
are to the Indian as familiar as the
paths of the home orchard are to the
farmer and his children, it is and of ne
cesslty must be an unknown land to
the best-informed white man; that in
these trackless wilds the Indian has no
liked habitation; that upon being dis
covered by his enemy the direction of
the trail he takes is matter of indiffer-
ence to him; that where night finds
him is his home, and that his subsist-
ence and clothing are always with him
if all these and collateral matters
depending on them are considered,
an idea can be formed of how difficult
it is to make successful war on the In
dian.
In war the Indian, though partially
civilized, reverts to his worst phase of
savagery. Much has been written as
to the false sentimentality which crops
up in the discussion of the Indian ques-
ton by humanitarians and lovers of
fair play, which it is not intended here
to repeat But it may properly be OBJ
served that it is worse than nonsense
to urge that the Indian regards the
white intruders as the descendants of
those who two centuries and more ago,
came to this country and by might de-
prived the Indians of the lands and
hunting fields, and is through his chill
dren pursuing the red man toward
the setting sun" The Indians knowl-
edge of history scarcely extends beyond
one generation. His white enemy is
served in war as is any other enemy,
and for the same reasons. He has no
inherited animosities dating from the
time of the Pilgrim Fathers, nor does
he feel gratitude for kind usage shown
to his ancestors or to himself. The
annuities paid him are looked upon as
tributes eXacted by fear or some less
worthy principle, and kindness shown
him are evidences to his mind that those
by whom they are shown are weak and
afraid of him.
Fortunately for the whites, the In
dams in their warfare are not in the
habit of attacking our so-called forts
on the frontier. else the horrors of
past wars would equal in any year the
fearful pictures of the Indian mutiny
against the English. Our frontier
forts have often been at the mercy Of
the Indians, but the capture in any
instance could not have been made
without great loss of life, and it is
characteristic of the race that they are
slow to attack when certain death
awaits any great numbers. They are
brave where superstitious beliefs make
the chances of safety greatly in their
favor, but will not take the risks that
satisfy the civilized warrior Gen.
Wesley Merritt, Z. S. A., IN Harper $
Mu0dzine.