The representative. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1893-1901, 1894-12-19

into fight. Eventually, in the fall, the
military forces were withdrawn wholly
from Eastern Montana, excepting the 9Th
infantry, under Col. Miles, who We're left
behind to construct cantonme1t in the
Yellowstone at the mouth of the Tongue
river. near the present Fort Keogh.
FIRST INDIAN SUCCESS.
This was Miles opportunity, and NEST
effectively did he avail himself of it, Wait
ing until the departing column had pro-
ceeded sufficiently far on its route to rem.
der interference by his superiors impracti-
cable, he left $50 men of the 9TH infantry to
construct the cantonment and set out with
the remaining $50 to seek and subJusate
the Indians. The summers demonstration
had proved worse than fruitless the hos
tiles remaining masters OF the SITUATION,
with the added prestige of a wholesale vic
tory such as they never before had
achieved.
Miles, with his little handful of infantry,
accomplished on foot what Cook and
Terry. with several thousand troops, in
Guiding a large force of cavalry, had ut
terly failed in doing.
Pushing sturdliy through the intricate
and seemingly impossible Bad Lands,
Miles in October overlook Sitting Bull at
Cedar Creek and chased him across the
Yellowstone, after separating the Indians
into two bodies one of which, under Crazy
Horse, escaped up the Powder river; the
other, under Sitting Bull, moving north
ward. The latter were vigorously followed
in November, and the country between
the Musselshel river and the Dry Fork
of the Missouri was thoroughly secured by
the troops, marching foot through the
rough Bad Lands regions that skirt these
rivers
The brilliant pursuit was repeated by
the same command at the end of Decem-
Der, through deep snow and in the bitter
cold of a Montana winter, and again in
May. 1877, the hostiles being thoroughly
whipped successfully on the Redwater,
among the Wolf mountains and in the
Rosebud valley, until large number sur
rendered at the agencies and the re-
mainder sought an asylum across the
British border.
MARCHED 1000 MILES
Col Miles had marched his soldiers over
1900 miles, and by his persistency had
opened to settlement vast of at
tractive country that speedily began to fill
up. He was not permitted-even had he
been so inclned-to rest on these laurels,
for in the fall of that same year-1S71-he
was again speeding towards the northern
boundary of Montana after large party
of Nez Perces, who, under the mastery
guidance of Chief Joseph, were making a
remarkable effort to force their way from
Idaho, in order to join Sitting Bull in Can
ada.
1Ol. Miles overlook tnem III september
in the Bear Paw mountains and compelled
their surrender with some loss of life on
both sides. A year later he pursued and
defea ted in the National Park party of
BannockS, who were striving to exchange
the rocky Businesses of Idaho for the
grassy buffalo grounds of Montana. He
passed that winter in the East a mem
Der of the Army Equipment Board, re-
turning to Montana in May, 1879.
In the latter part of June he made a
reconnaissance in force north of the Mis-
souri, and broke up the Illicit traffic in
arms and ammunition by which the hostile
savages were kept supplied by unscrupu-
lous persons through the asencyN of a
large party of Red river half-breeds.
Miles Indian operations extended over
nearly all the territories, some of which.
largely owing to his energy as an Indian
hunter. have since become states. He has
been brought into contact with every tribe
of aborigines who have taken up arms
against the whites in the last % years. The
savages all fear him. but they also respect
him for both his bravery and his truthful
behavior toward themselves They know
mis- tongue is not forked'-he will perform
whatever he promises.
HIS INDIAN POLICY.
The legislatures of Kansas New Mexico,
Arizona and Montana have all passed res
oluton of thanks to Gen. Miles for his
services. In 1880 he was rendered COM
mission brigadier-general. For a time
he hesitated between accepting that rank
in 1.-The line" or taking the vacant staff
position, with similar rank, of chief signal
officer, which, it was limited, was open to
him, and which he decided to decline.
1t was always Gen. Miles policy in his
Indian campaigns to follow the enemy up
relentlessy and with the utmost practical
BILE celebrity, to surprise him in the fancied
security o. Ills mountain hiding places and
to convince the red man that wherever he
goes his pale face pursuer can reach him.
1t was this unwearying pertinacity of pur-
suit and surprise as much as his lighting
courage that gave him his mark among
army officers whose names identified
with Indian warfare.
When he set out he intended to find his
Indians. The usual course merely to
go in search of them, which was a very
different thing. After Miles promotion to
brigadier-general he for several years
in command of the Department of the Co.
lumbia until in 1885 he transferred to
that of the Missouri. In 1886, when the
renegade Geronimo was terroriZing Arizona
with his Apache fiends, Miles was sent to
replace Gen. Crook in the hunt after the
redskins. He succeeded, as usual, and on
Nov. 8, 1887, the citizens of Arizona pre-
scented him with a magnificent sword in
token of their gratitude.
PERSONAL TRAITS.
He was afterward assigned to the COM
mand of the Division of the Pacific, and in
IL,
was promoted to majOr-general, with head
quarters at Chicago. That winter he cor
rallied and disarmed the Dakota ghost
dancers at Pine Ridge, since which time
there have been no Indian disturbances re-
quiring his attention.
A companion in arms writing of Gen.
Miles says:
Gen Miles is in stature slightly above
the average height, we'll proportloned, broad
chested, deep lunged and straight as an
arrow. His sentences are clear cut and
pertinent. He has the faculty of being able
to say the right thing in the right way.
His memory is remarkably retentive OF
what he sees in the line of his experience
and he is always ready with some apt il
Illustration to fit the subject under discus
| sion. His most marked intellectual charac-
| teristics doubtless his common sense
| and absolute self-reliance.''
! Gen. Miles was married in 1868 to Miss
| Mary Sherman, of Cleveland, Ohio, daugh
| ter of the late Judge Sherman and niece
of Senator John Sherman.