The Athena press. [volume] (Athena, Umatilla County, Or.) 18??-1942, 1912-06-28
INDIAN WAR VETS
WANT RECOGNITION
HOROES OF FRONTIER WARS
HAVE BEEN NEGLECTED.
National Secretary Deplores
Treatment Accorded Those
Who Guarded Plains.

T. J. Tweedy. Of Pendleton. who is
serving as national committeeman
from Oregon for the National Indian
War Veterans has received from the
national secretary @. R. Hauser. Of
Denver, an address In which be dwells
on the neglect shown Indian war vet
erans though the heroes OF other wars
are cared for and rewarded. OF the
Indian veterans the memorial says:
"No eulogies are delivered over
their graves Oh Decoration Day. no
martial hands are heard, and even
that fond tribute from comrades,
placed on the dead soldiers grave
tho flag of our country--is not in
evidence. There they sleep, these
men who fought we'll. in graves scat
tered over the vast area of our erst
while Indian frontier country, meg
lected and forgotten, silent and alone.
"Even that last tribute to a soldier
/, fallen on the battle iield--the volley
over their graves--was denied our
comrades, and instead of marking
their graves with mounds OF stone or
head boards; 1t was often necessary
to obliterate and destroy all signs of
burial, for we'll we know that the i'm
placable hatred of the Indian fiends
would deseoYate their resting plaue
and dig up and mutilate their remains.
"Can any OF us. the few who are
yet on earth, ever forget those fearful
days Of 1879, when many trave
young man laid down his life as a
sacrifice for future generations. an d
many hundreds died before their time,
owing to the terrible hardships aud
suffering endured. Can you ever for
get the long marches across sun burnt
plans, often without water and food.
or the long rides on freezing winter
days and nights, in p ursuit of hostile
Indians. Do you remember how often
J. we camped. where we stopped or nm
saddled, without wood, food or water,
. with our wagons miles aud miles away
and there was no chance to live off
: the country, for there was no couG-
try except the hostile Indian country.
Can you think back, comrade Oh those
DAYS in Kansas and Nebraska, when
we fought the red Hends day and
! night. Is lit not true they outnum
J bered us ten to one and in many in
stances were armed better than we
were. Also those trying days In AIi-
zona, against the most treaoherous Of
foes, with campaign which for sew.
Gritty. length and horror. seeks its
equal. Yet yon must confess, dis.
cipline' and bravery has always won
the day. and relentlessly, persistently
and unfalteringly we forced back the
savage foe. opening an empire for our
people. Yet the men whose bravery
accomplished this are unremem bered,
are unhonored and uusunR. aud hardly
classed among our nations brave.
Why this should be SO is mystery.
for rightly have they meIited as much
recognition as any body of soldiers in
the world.
$50 can we call to mind innumera-
BILE campaigns where the soldiers of
the Indian wars obediently performed
the duties required Of them. and
proudly can we say no country on the
glote has had better, more faithful
or braver tand Of men than those that
opened and protected the frontier in
the early Indian days
"Our number was woefnlly small
/ and it is only matter of short time
: when the last of these soldiers will
, have passed away. and is 1t any more
than just and right for us to ask that
? our government so prompt and so lib
eral In nearly all cases. should give rs
! In our declining years, thereward and
recognition it has given to all its sol
diers of other wars. T"