The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1899-07-30
ANACONDA NEWS.
MILES SHOULD COMMAND
Tribute to the Soldierly Qualities
of the General.
PROVIDES FOR HIS MEN
Sheriff Jack Conley, Who Was for Years
Miles Packer, Says That He
Should Be Sent to the
Philippines.
PROVIDES FOR HIS MEN

IF the United States government
wants to conduct winning campaign
in the Philippines. it should send Ma
ior General Miles there to command, "
said Sheriff Jack Conley yesterday.
Treasured in the heart of the b g
sheriff of Deer Lodge county is large
regard for the major general command
ing the army. 1t is a regard tngad
with admiration and respect, and is
the result of years of campaigning with
Miles.
He is a great provider for his men,
a brave fighter and a goer from HI"
is the latonic manner in which the
sheriff summarizes the generals chief
qualities
From 1876 to 1882 Sheriff Conley serv-
ed under General Miles, as packer
passing through the Nez Perez and
Lame Deer campaigns, the fight with
Sitting Bull and many other expedi-
lions, At that time General Miles was
colonel of the 5th infantry, with head
quarters at Fort Keogh this state
Part of the time Sheriff Conley was in
the service of the army he was chief
packer. He was with Major Elgis and
"a portion of the 5th infantry when that
command captured Old Gall New Years
morning, 1881, at Proctor creek, and
participated in many other fights.
General Miles is a man who al
ways commanded the respect and high
regard of the men who served under
him. His first regard seemed always
TO be for the comfort of his subordin-
ates. He personally saw to it that they
were well clothed and well provided for
always, soldiers and civilian employees
alike, whether in barracks or on the
trail. Many's the time when on cam
paign he has had every wheel of trans
portation available busily at work
hauling up supplies to his moving col
umn.
Making his mems health and well
being his first regard General Miles is
just~the man who would resent bitter
ly the neglect Of troops in the Cuban
campaign. We who know him can
readily understand why he made such
a fight against the neglect of the war
department and exposed the embalmed
beef outrageS.
"On winter campaigns he would see
that every enlisted man was provided
at government expense. with fur coats
caps and overshoes. and that all the
force was well fed. No single ration
went; every man got all he could eat.
No matter how fast he would go-and
he went faster than any other COM
manding officer--Miles would see that
no man lacked for anything.
His ability to move rapidly on
campaign was wonder to officers of
inferior ability. He was a goer from
HI. Nothing could stop him.
The Indians whom he met and de-
feated on his various campaigns con-
ceived the highest respect for his abi-
ity as a warrior The instance of the
surrender of Joseph shows this. JOS
eph was the war chief of the Nez
Perces, and led them in 1877 on their
famous massacre across the states of
Idaho and Montana, and away up to
the Bear Paw mountains. Miles force,
in which ! was a packer finally came
upon Joseph and his band in the noun
tains, and we had a hot fight with them
for two days and a night, in which 43
soldiers were killed.
THE Indians were entrenched in pits,
and as every one of them was a dead
shot, you can imagine we had a hard
time. Our soldiers could not see them,
but they could see the soldiers. Finally
Gunner Ntzhugh, got the range and
began dropping shot into them. This
made them pretty sick. The next morn
ing they hung out the token of surren-
der. The only man in our outfit who
could speak the Nez Perez tongue was
George Cavanaugh, better known as
Cayuse George, a packer. He went in
and came out with old Joseph.
by this time General o. o. Howard,
who had been pursuing the Indians
from the time they started in Idaho
had caught up with us. He and Miles
were out in front to receive the surren-
der. Joseph rode up, bearing his gun
before him. He held it out, and as he
did so General Howard reached for it.
Joseph drew it back with an indignant
gesture, and deliberately handed it to
Miles, testifying mutely that it was
Miles who had defeated him. 1t was
an incident that tickled us all nightly
for we We're to a man fond of our COM
manding officer"