Year: 1865




whichever it was, should receive proper pub
lie rebuke.


Indian Hostilittes-The Probable Exter-


mfnatiOn OF that Race I'm Our Ter


ritories.


There was battle with the Indians on the
25th and 26th of the present month at Platte
River Bridge, on the telegraph road, in which
about thousand men Of the Sioux, Cheyennes,
Camanches, Arrapahoes and Blackfeet were
beaten by two hundred and fifty United States
troops The Indian loss was perhaps large,
and they retreated, tearing down the telegraph
as they went, and swearing that they were p>,,w
making war "for all time" This was there.
fore, in all probability, the first Of 4 series Of
fights, that will result in the Determination of
that race in the limits Of the United States Ter
ritories-the first combat ~ an Indian war that
will prove the last we viii be troubled with.
The fact of this vigorous commencement of
hOstilities just now, and The consideration Of
the condition, status spd present temper of the
Indians, alike poip,. to this conclusion.


We give i9 s1lother column the last statement
published by the Commissioner of Indian
Affairs of the probable numbers of the Indians.
Tbe statement embraces the Indian population
Of all the Territories and of the several States
in which there remained any of the
race at the time, it having been made
before the war. The total was three hum
dred and fourteen thousand. OF these three
hundred thousand large number was depend
ent upon the government for support at that
time, and that number was increasing every
year. Every train of emigrants that crossed
the plains, carrying the arts of civilized life
with them, reduced the selfsupporting power
of the Indians, and the great development of
the gold bearing regions did the same to q
greater degree. Settlements of whatever
character injured their hunting grounds, and so
inevitably increased their dependence upon an
nuities. Then the war broke out, and its de-
moralizing influence upon the savage was very
great They were easily led into war from any
cause they lost their annuities, and suffered
considerable distress, and thus were made ready
to go to any extremity. What will make all
this still worse is that we must expect, now





emigration, and development Of the gold
fields and a consequently greater pressure
than ever upon the Indians.


The circular from the Commissioner of In
dian Affairs, which we give elsewhere, shows
the temper in which the government regards
these hostiities. The Indian Bureau by that
circular subordnates its action entirely TO that
of the War Department, and orders the lmme-
diate cessation of all intercourse with hostile
Indians. Thus the Indians, dependent in a
large degree upon the government for support,
have that support at once entirely withdrawn,
and cannot even purchase the necessaries of
life from traders. Then the immense present
power Of the government will, no doubt, be
used against them with proper vigor, and the
resistance that their fifty or sixty thousand
warriors can offer-even if all are brought into
the struggle-will soon be overcome. The
Indian has accomplished his part in the devel-
opment OF one portion of this continent, and
must make way. And while the white laborer
succeeds the negro 10 the once dreadfully NAL
arious regions Of the Southern States, the
negro, perhaps, will displace the red man and
carry our Western widernesses as far forward
as be has taken the districts be Is now likely TO
leave.