Year: 1876

reserve. But two results have followed
the Custer massacre. The first is the
conviction in the minds OF the Indians
that the time has come for them to rise
and drive the white men from the soil
The other, that we have moderated the
the strength of the Indians and ov'r'
rated our power to deal with them


There has really been no peace in the
Northwest since 1862. II was then that
Sitting Bull, commanding u band OF
Sioux, made war upon our frontier set
Elements. For fourteen yeals this chief,
at the head of the most powerful and
intelligent tribe of Indians on the CONT
nrnt, has been at enmity with the whites.
They have given their lives to robbery,
murder and pillage. Whenever they
could find an emigrant party, or u for
lorn steamboat insuiiiciently guarded. or
a railway surveying party on the North
ern Pacific, they have fallen upon them.
Whenever they captured prisoners it was
death. We read of wars in the East
and Bashi. Bazouk massacrcs in Turkey,
but there il no war SO terrible and mer'
ciless as war with the Indians There is
no quarter with them. The men and
children they always kill in battle or by
slow torture. The women they reserve
for u fate compared with which death
would be a blessing. Fourteen years of
this strife have made Sitting Bull kind
of Sioux Napoleon. The fact that he
has conquered and killel the great white
chief Custer adds to his fame. Other
tribes, and especially the young men,
will join him. Red Cloud, Spotted Tail
and few chiefs, who have been East
and know of the strength of the whites,
may attempt to arrest this enthusiasm,
but it is not IN human nature, in Sioux
human nature at all events that they
should succeed. When an Indian youth
sets out in life md seeks success in love
or authority he = es that he can only
have confederation according to the
number Of scalps he captures. Murder,
therefore, is his first duty, and war his
supreme pleasure because oil the oppor.
tunty of murder. There is not an In
dian lodge in all this vast region OF the
Yellowstone where the story Of Clusters
fall and Sitting Bulls victory will not
awaken the Indian mind to all enthusi.
asm like that III France utter Marengo
1t would not surprise us il it extended
into Canada. The force which few
years ago was little more than tow des-
peradOes will become u rising of the
nations. Nor can it be said that we
have failed in our efforts to avoid this
result by peaceful methods. In 1867 we
made treaty with the Sioux, but Sit.
ting Bull refused to respect 1t and con


tinued his work OF pillage and murder


The plain fact is that we have before us
the whole Indian problem and that We
must confront in martial array the most
powerful Indian tribes on the continent.


All the evidence shows that we have
failed, all of us, to comprehend this In.
dian question. General Sheridan was of
the opinion that the Seventh cavalry was
match for the whole Indian nations.
General Sherman thought that Custer
could only be destroyed by thriving
himself away. General Terry, who first
regarded the massacre as Clusters fault,
which he had expiated with his life, now
wants to give the whole business up to
Crook and take orders from subordin-
ate. Crook, famous rs he is, has already
had one repulsc, and takes it so coolly
that we hear OF him in hunting parties.
In fact, our military authorities have re-
garded this whole business as kind of
picnic. Our eoldiers have come to re-
gard Indian hunting rs they would buf.
falo hunting. We question if there was
one soul in that daring band which gayly
followed Custer Oh that last march who
did not feel that the regiment was in
about as much danger from heavens
thunderbolts as from the Sioux. Aud
yet the danger came, as swift as thun.
derbolt, and as terrible. Even now our