Rensselaer Union, Volume 8, Number 12, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 9 December 1875 — Gen. Sheridan’s Report. [ARTICLE]

Gen. Sheridan’s Report.

The Military Division of the Missouri now comMost, of the Gulf and We»tern States, all the Territories east of Arizona. Nevada and Idaho, including the southeastern portion of the latter Territory, ertends from British America on the north to the Gulf of Mexico and the Rio Grande on the south, and as far east as Key West, on the Gulf, and embraces within its limit* ninetv-uine Indian tribes, numbering about 192.000 person'. ■ scattered over more than 1.UM.000 square miles of frontier territory. For the bettorprotectkiß of this frontier, with its vast agticiritural. mining, mercantile and other interests, and for convenience in the administration of the t.ffatrs of the division, it is divided into 'department*, as follow «t The Department of Dakota. Brig.-Gen. AlfredTerrv. commanding: the Department of the Piatte. Brig. -Gen. Geor-e Crook, commanding: the Depttrtment of the Slis-ouri. Srig.-lien. John Pope, commanding; the Department pi Texes. Brig.-Gen. U. C. Old, camiuaiidinand the Department of the Gulf. Brig.-Gen. € C Angor, coatuMinug. Within the-e limits » e have ninety-one established posts and camps, garrisoned by eight regiments of caTairy. six companies of artiile.ry •eighteen regiments and four companies of infanttryand a small detachment of engineer troops, agthe last official re [tort, 14.813 co'mmQ. * eioned officers aDd enlisted men. In relation to the extinction of the Indian title to the Black Hill- territory the General says: l earnestly recommend some action which will •settle this Black Hills question, and relieve ns fro map exceedingly disagreeable and embarrassing duty. steel quite satisfied that ail theconntrv acuth of the Yellowstone River, from the Black Mills of the Cheyenne as far west as the Big Horn Valley. and perhaps as far west as Clark'S Fork of the •YedlOwstoue, .is gold-bearing, but as to the Amount of gold deposits I cannot say: it may be great or it may be small. This area is also at many places well timbered, has many beautiful valleys of ratherhieh altitude, with good soil and Abundance of running water. Nearly the whole of it is well- adapted to grazing purposes. The winters are.l haveevery ren-on to believe, yerv cold, but the temperature is ttnilorm; the cold weather is found to be less injurious to stock where there is no •belter than a milder climate where cattle are subjected to the changes of alternate freezing and thawing, and where the rains rot the grass. The Fiona r Indians, numbering about 35.000. mow hold this -country, and. in addition, the belt ■eastward f rot* the t>**eof the Black Hilla of the Gheyenoetw the Missouri River, which would make about iO.OUO acres of land for the head of each family and perhaps much mote, without one

single acre being cnltlvntnd, whil« the maximum amount given Bv the Government to an adult* white settler is only 190 acres, on which he has to live, build a hut, pin up fences, till the groufid and pay taxes. , _,<• ' . The ob.*erv»tion of many year* in my own command and throughout most of tha Indian country fdr tbe Inst twenty years has left the Unpre—ion that this system of civilizing tii* wild portion of our Indian inhabitant* ha* not met with a success which gives a fair gquivnlent for the expense. trouble and bloodshed' which bare attended it. 1 believe there is true humanity in making the reservation* reasonably small, dividing them into tracts lor the heads ot families, making iabor gradually compnlsorv, and even compelling the children to go to school. To accomplish this purpose, to civilize, make self-supporting, and save many more of these poor people than otherwise will be laved. I believe it best to transfer the Indian Bureau to the military, and let It be taken under the general administration of the army, governed and controlled in responsibility of accounts in accordance with our present system. The Indian* will thus'be humanely and honestly dealt with,, and 1 believe! If this bad always been the‘case, there would have been but few of the troubles and bloody records which have characterized the civilization of the Indians jn the many year* gone by. In relation to affair* along the Rio Grande Gen. Sheridan say*: Noarly all the troops in the Department of Texas. except those along the ltio Grande frontier, were engaged in this campaign. Those stationed along the ltio Grande River, the boundary line between tbelUnited States and Mexico, have had the humiliating duty of attempting to protect our citizen* and their property from raids by people of a foreign country, who come over the boundary in armed parties to steal cattle, and do not hesitate to attack and kill our citizen* when necessaryJto accomplish their purpose. The low stage of water in the ltio Grande, and its great length—l,2oo or 1,500 miles—makes the duty of protecting it difficult, in fact, almost impossible, with the few troops available for the purpose. In speaking of thi? duly as a lmmilating one Ido uot mean that it is not perfectly legitimate—for any duty i* auch which has for its object the protection of the lives and property of the people on an international boundary line—but when it is considered that these armed parties, a* soon as they are pursued, take refuge on the opposite bank of the river, and there, in sight of our troops, w ho dare not cross, graze and slaughter the stolen eattle with impunity, the service is very mortifying to those engaged in the protection of that frontier. This condition of affair.* has been going on for the last twenty years.