Rensselaer Republican, Volume 23, Number 14, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 4 December 1890 — VIEWS OF GENERAL MILES [ARTICLE]

VIEWS OF GENERAL MILES

He Says the Indian S tnatlnn- Is Grave and Expects an All-Wiater Campaign, i' The departure of Gen. Miles.commander of the Department of the Missouri, for Washington on the 28th, is more than significant. In short, the General has been summoned to the National capital by Gen. Schofield and the Secretary of War for the purpose of discussing the details of his plan forstoncedismountingand disarming the hostile Indians in the Northwest. Gen. Mileswasseen by a reporter just before his departure, and be confirmed all that is stated above. “I go to Washington,” said he, “to confer with the Generyl of the Army concerning the Indian situation. Yes, the situation is jrave," he continued"and the necessity for a vigorous winter campaign is becoming more and more aps parent. We are probably face to face with a winter campaign. The hostile Indians ought to be compelled to surrender, and they ought to be dismounted and disarmed, and they will be. That is all I can say. Oh, I will add' this: They will probably find themselves in a position in the f uture so that they can not so easily mount and arm as in the past. You may look for a winter campaign in the Northwest. We have only 2,000 mounted men in the Indian country, over a stretch of country five hundred miles long. The infantry is doing guard duty only.- With this force we hope to keep the peace until we get ready to crush the uprising.” Another dispatch says General Miles postponed his departure until the arrival from Pine Ridge agency, the seat of the alleged troubles, of Colonel Ludington, of the quartermaster’s department. This official arrived at noon Friday and his report to the commander of the Depart-, ment of the Missouri was to theeffectthat the energetic action manifested by the troops had bad a most salutary effect upon the disaffected red skins. He adds that the anticipated danger might be considered as fairly past. This report tended to confirm the dispatches received here by General Miles since Tuesday , as well as to strongly bear out the theory that the extent of the red skin uprising in the Northwest has been more than exaggerated. As one of the prominent army officials at head quarters put it to-day, “It was more of a correspondents’ than an Indian scare.”