Rensselaer Union, Volume 11, Number 11, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 28 November 1878 — See’y Schurz Replies to Gen. Sheridan. [ARTICLE]

See’y Schurz Replies to Gen. Sheridan.

Washington, Nov. 19. The Secretary of War has received, and referred to Gen. Sherman, a letter from the Secretary of the Interior, sharply replying to certain statements by Gen. Sheridan in the latter's annual report. Sec’y Schurz says: “These statements, as far as they reflect npon the conduct of the Indian Service, are of a sweeping and somewhat vague nature, built must be assumed that Gen. Sheridan would not have made them and permitted them to become public, had he not in his possession specific iuformatlop concerning certain agencies and certain branches of the Indian Service, to which these statements may be Individually applied. Gen. Sheridan, In his official document, gives it as Ills opinion that, with, wise management, the amounts appropriated by Congress ought to be sufficient, if practically applied to the exact purejscs specified, but that reports of epartment Commanders would indicate a different result, except In the case of the Red Cloud and Spotted Tall bands of Si Tux. He would certainly not have expressed such an oplulon without being acquainted in detail with the appropriations made by Congress and the specific purposes lor which they were intended. It is also to be sup|>osed that, before making the sweeping charge above quoted, he was cognizant of specific cases in which those appropriations were not either applied at all, or diverted from the purpose intended by Congress. You will greatly oblige me by requesting Gen. Sheridan to communicate such tacts as may be in bis possession, giving the names of agents, dates and other ' circumstances which warrant the charge, which Includes all the Indian agencies in the Military Division of the Missouri, except those of the Red Cloud and Spotted Tall Sioux. “It has been my constant and earnest endeavor since I entered upon my present duties to correct all abuses in the Indian Service that came to my knowledge, and Gen. Sheridan, by furnishing such specific Information, would thereby render greater service to this Department, as well as to the Indians, than bv mere general statements. As he has put forth a sweeping charge, the specifications may justly be called for. I make this request with particular urgency, In view of the fact that certain military officers seem of late to have fallen into the habit of indulging officially and probably iu general reflection ou the Indian Service, without taking the trouble of substantiating with such statements la detail as would facilitate the discovery and correction of the abuse. Ido not deprecate criticism at all. I rather invite It, but when it is officially put forth, there is, It seems to me, a certain fairness due from one branch of the public service to another. I should for instance, not deem anv officer of this Department justified in blaming, iu general terms, the army for its failure to intercept the runaway Cheyennes on their march of several hundred miles through Kansas and Nebraska, and across the Union Pacific Railway, without being able to point out certain instances of mismanagement or neglect. If such instances had come to the knowledge of this Department, which they have not, I should have considered It due to the army that they be specifically ascertained and stated, before indulging in general arraignment. I think it is not asking too much in the interest of the public service, that such rule be observed by officers of the army likewise.”

Gen. Sheridan’s intimation that the Red Cloud and Spotted Tail Sioux were allowed to select their present locations, owing to a “systematic working up of the case by traders and contractors,” Is also made the subject of emphatic comment by Sec’y Schurz. He states that tbts policy was adopted by the Department on the earnest advice of a distinguished Indian fighter and manager, Gen. Crook, who, as a result of his long experience with tne Sioux, opposed any policy that would force the Sioux, against their unanimous and determined protest, to stay on the Missouri River, as seriously endangering our peaceful relations with these powerful tribes, and, the Secretary adds, that so far, at least, their loyal conduct seems to have justified the course adopted. Sec’y Schurz challenges Gen. Sheridan to produce evidence in support of his imputations, and meanwhile remarks that it would not have been asking too much of him to inform himself a little better of the circumstances before publishing his assertion in an official document. The Secretory also makes the following comment upon the remark of Gen. Gibbon that “there is an entire absence of responsibility in the Indian Service:” “If Gen. Gibbon, when writing his report, was cognizant Of specific cases of wrong-doing, he Would have obliged the Department by reporting them, and if after such report the charges thus made had not been inquired into, and the guilty persons held to their proper responsibility, the sweeping statements contained in his report would have been adopted as Justified. If he will communicate such specific information now, he will find there is no such lack of responsibility as fie qllegear—Strverql employes in the Indian Servjfce, who are now under criminal prosecution, have discovered this at their cost”