The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1898-04-29
INDIANS MAY BE ENLISTED
Would Be Useful IN the Hills and
Mountains OF Cuba.
UNCLE SANS COLORED TROOPS.

the authorities to send them to Cuba oY
to give them permission to go back home
and raise regiments for active service.
Men have sought authorization for raising
regiments of cowboys, of Indians, of coal
miners and of all sorts and conditions of
men. Among the applications which have
won favor In the Dyes of tho military au-
thorities were those of Theodore Roosevelt
and Judge Jay l.. Torrey to organize regi-
ments of cowboys from the plains for ac-
tive service In Cuba. Within short time
1t Is probable two such regiments. under
the command Of these two men, will be
actually dispatched to Cuba
1t Is agreed by the military experts that
the first men we serd into Cuba should be
men Injured to the hardsbips of field serv-
ice. They should be accustomed TO sleep
ing out upon tho ground ana to getting
along with tho minimum amount of COM
fort. Clerks from the stores and offices of
the city make good soldiers as soon as they
are hardened to the work, and tho history
of the civil war shows that as soon as they
were seasoned there were no better soldiers
In the world than the counter jumpers"
from the cities. They were more or less
sneered at by the experienced men when
they first took to the field but in a few
the army SO far as endurance and fighting
qualities we're concerned
Men Injured to Hardship.
Roosevelts and Torrey's cowboys will
have great advantage over green soldiers
for service in Cuba. They are good horse
men, of course. They can practically live
In the saddle. All the tricks of camping
and foraging, of saving themselves and
their beasts all possible hardship by adroit
management, they are thoroughly familiar
with. They are past the period in which
sleeping upon the damp ground is going
to give them rheumatism or in which
drinking water that Is slightly off is go
ing to pull them down with fevers. Be-
sides, their horses are as tough as they
are. The little mounts from tho plains, ac-
custoined to hard riding, to picking up
their sustenance from the end of lariat
rope and to getting along with little water
and less cnre are just the things for cav
airy operations In rugged, wet and hot
Cuba.
The idea of enlisting Indians from the
plains has been seriously considered by
the authorities here. 1t is argued that a
few bands of redskins would form admi-
rable auxiliary troops, especially for chas-
Ing 6paniards into the mountain fast
ncsses. II the Spanish authorities adopt
the tactics in Cuba which many Of our
military experts think they wall adopt
that is, to become bushrangers or gucrril-
las themselves, inst as the Cubans have
perforce been during the last three years
Indian fighting methods will be just the
thing to run them out. 1t would be an
odd spectacle, that of American Indians
and regular army troops fighting side by
side against foreign foe, but In the opin
ion Of good judges 1t would be method
well designed to cut short the supposed
Spanish plan of carrying on desultory
warfare in the hills and mountains of
Cuba for long time to come.
The American regular army troops and
the Indians of the plains are a good deal
alike In one important particular--they
know how to follow up a trail, no matter
where II leads, no matter how long or
dangerctis 1t Is. The white men learned
good deal from the Indians in this sort Of
work and are quite as adept as their mod
els in ferreting out game that burrows
and sneaks through narrow and difficult
defiles. It is considered an odd thing that
the Spanish, with oil their experience In
the new world operating against the na-
tives have not also learned this art. But
the last three years in Cuba appear to
demonstrate that the Spaniard of today Is
almost the same soldier as the Spaniard of
three centuries aRo-he fights well en-
masse, but Is a poor ferret. He will not
follow a trail after IL has become devious
and bitter.
Uncle SANS Coiored Troops.
There is also a suggestion that our col
ored troops should be among the first that
are sent to Cuba. II IL Is necessary to keep
our men long time In Havana, Matanzas,
Cienfuegos and other Cuban towns, as 1t
probably will be for the purpose of main
tanning order, the colored troops are
thought to be just the boys. They are not
subject to yellow fever and other disorders
which might attack unacclimated white
mon and carry them of in great numbers.
In the rebellion IL wns found that tho
black men make good fighters, that they
are easily trained and that their powers OF
endurance are In some respects superior to
those of white men. It might be CALLING
to the pride of tho Spaniards to have col
ored troops for foes, and especially to have
black men stand guard over their cities,
but the United States has passed the point
where IL is paying very much respect to
Spanish pride There does seem to be
something fitting In the idea of using col
ored soldiers to aid In securing the liberty
of the Cuban people. for more than third
of the Inhabitants of Cuba now living are
black, and black men have formed an Inn.
portant part Of the army of liberation led \
by the Cuban patriots. Besides, the great
est war In history was fought TO free the
blacks on this continent and In turn the
oolored soldiers should he willing 20 con-
tribute of their blood TO securing the polit-
ical emancipation Of Cubn.
Uncle Sam might not no nblo to put In
the field \ brigade composed OF quite ms
varicgatod an assortment OF soldiers as
Great Britain boasts, with her Highland
ers, Irish fusilcers, Canadian frontiers
men. Indian cohorts, Australian rangers
and South African shnrpshooters. but the
United States. r. not far behind. III the
war Of occupation in Cuba should con-
tinue long, there Is no telling what varia.
tions Of pationnltiy in distinctive organi-
sstiops will DO found In the American col
umis. WALTER WkLLMAx.