The New York herald., 1922-06-11
Survivors of the Indian Wars
Men Who Fought the Red Men in the
West Deserve Remembrance.


Decoration Day parade along Riverside
Drive there were men who saw service
ir the civil war, the Indian wars in the
West which followed closely after Y
the Spanish-American war and the
world war-more than half or the im-
portant and decisive conflicts In the
history of America as a nation. 1t was
Of course easy to pick out the civil war
veterans. whose rapidly thinning ranks
make the spectacle of their annual pa~
rade a somewhat pathetic as well as q
highly interesting one.
Among them and indistinguishab1a
from the rest, except as individually
known to the onlooker, were at least
some who served in the Western wars
after 1865. OF the leaders in those
campaigns Custer, Crook. Gibbon. Terry
and others have gone; General Nelson
A Miles still remains. well over 80 years
OF age. and General Charles B. Roe,
about rs, is just recovering from a ses
we're illness at his home in this city.
noticed in the line Of march Major
A. B. Ostrander, who was with General
Philip St. George Cooke, the noted In,
dian fighter, for about two years after
the civil war, and remained in the West
for the greater part Of the time up to
1885. Major Ostrander holds medal No.
sol out of less than thousand issued
through an act of Congress some years
ago to participants in the Indian cams
paigns, interpreted by the War Depart-
ment to mean men engaged in conflicta
where there were casualties to whita
i,,ta no mo fol Iva
turned out to be unjust to many brave
soldiers who were in engagements where
the casualties were wholly on the In4
dian side. An authority consulted on
that point estimates that not more thaN
perhaps eight of these medals are now
held by living men in the State Of New
York.
Colonel w. II. Corbusier, a formeH
resident Of this city now living in res
t;rement in Alameda, California, served
in the civil war, the Indian wars, in the
Philippines and the Boxer rebellion.
Had General George A. Custer been
spared to this day he would have been
younger than some of the men in line on
Memorial Day. AS / stood looking al
that parade a bygander suggested how
thrilling it would be If Colonel Roose-
velt could Lave lived to march in the
long line of 1922. Right; but my own
fancy suggests that it would be even
more thrilling If the younger men and
women of this generation could have had
look at the dashing. impetuous Custer
leading the remnants of his commands
Oh 1S7476, their faces bronzed by their
rough lives in the wild Northwest of
that period
Elizabeth B. Custer. widow of the
General, still lives in this city, and for
more than forty years. with gentle voice
and active pen, has contributed much to
the history of the period she knew as a
bride and during her short married life.
Never, so far as the writer is able to
determine, has a single criticism been
made of General Custer or his opera
t'ons in the field (and there have been
plenty Of both) but that his gallant
widow has met them with complete and
convincing replies. For good, brief
account ofNthe Custer massacre and a
we'll deserved tribute 70 Mrs Custer sea
Nelson A. Miles's Serving the Re-
nIblicn
Though naturally few in number ana
widely scattered. there are still sur
vivors Of Clusters famous Seventh Cav-
airy before the battle of the Little Big
Horn, June 5. 1876. and several were
present al the dedication of the monu-
nlent in Montana last year. OF the later
Seventh Cavalry there is a least one sur
vivor in New York city, Robert E. Eher-
wood Of the Sherwood Company. book
sellers. "a Beekman street, who was shot
through the leg at the battle of Wounded
Knee. Mr.. Sherwood. of course, belongs
to what might be called the later period
of active and fairly continuous military
operations in the West, though Indian
troubles" continued to a lesser extent
for several years afterward.
The campaign Of the West and
Northwest from 1865 until peace was
established in, those regions. since which
time well Travelled highways have taken
the place of the trails and warpaths OF
earlier times, are replete with personal
exploits by officers and soldiers Of the
army. One of the most notable of these
was the ride Of about $50 miles in less
than twenty-four hours and on one horse
made by Lieut.. Charles f. Roe soon
after he was graduated from West Point.
This Is given only brief mention in the
fragmentary histories for those times
and sections OF the country. A call at
the Roe residence on May 81 was an
swered by word from the Generals
room to the effect that when he felt
strong enough he would be glad I'd
furnish the brief correct details, un.
published yet so far as / know, for
THE New YORK HERALD.
ROBERT BRUCE.
Nrr- voov r,.. "a