Jasper Republican, Volume 1, Number 9, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 13 November 1874 — Annual Reports of Army Officers. [ARTICLE]

Annual Reports of Army Officers.

Washington, Nov. 9. ' OEN * SHERMAN. * V ' , Gen. Sherman’s annual report to the Secretary of War shows the total number of enlisted men in the army off Oct. 15 to have been 26,441. It estimates that this number will probably be reduced through natural causes by the Ist of January, 1875, to the 25,000 allowed by law. It deprecates the inadequacy of so small, an army for the demands of so large an area,of territory as it has to be scattered over, involving the necessity of with-, drawing troops from one department to meet the requirements of other? a long distance away. It compliments the high efficiency of Gen. Sheridan and his subordinate officers in maintaining comparative peace in the Indian country. It says the reports of the commanding officers demonstrate that the small army of the United States, called a peace establishment, is the hardest-worked body of men in this or any country. The discipline and behavior qf the officersand men have been worthy of all praise; and whether employed on the extreme and distant frontier, or in aiding civil 1 officers in the execution of civil processes, have been a model for the imitation of all good men. In regard to the removal of his headquarters to St. Louis he says: “ I am prepared to execute the duties that maybe devolved on me by proper authority. Here I am centrally located, and should occasion arise I can personally proceed to any point on this continent where my services are needed.”

GEN. SHERIDAN. Lieut.-Gen. Sheridan, in his annual report, touches slightly upon Gen. Custer’s Black Hills expedition, which it pronounces a successful reconnpissance. The country of the Black Hills was found to be touch better than was expected, with plenty of good timber and considerable good soil at high altitudes and an abundant supply of good water and grass. Some gold was found near Harney’s Peak, but of its abundance there is at present no reliable information. Sufficient time could not be given by an expedition such as that of Gen. Custer’s to prospect and determine its quantity. Gen. Sheridan again recommends the establishment of a large military post in the Black Hill country. Of the Indian troubles Gen. Sheridan says: “I respectfully differ with Gen. Pope as to the chief cause of these Indian troubles, and attribute it to the immunity with which the tribes have been treated. In all their raids into Texas for the past three years their reservations have furnished them the supplies with which to make the raids and sheltered them from pursuit when they returned with their scalps and plunder. No man bf close observation, it seems to me, can travel across the great plains from Nebraska and Wyoming to Texas, and see the established ranches, with their hundreds of thousands of head of cattle, sheep and horses, together with the families of the owners, and reasonably think that these people, so much exposed and having such valuable interests, are desirous of provoking Indian wprs. There was a time, possibly, when the population of the Indian frontier may have been desirous of Indian troubles, but that has passed lohg ago.”