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OLD
WEST LEGENDS
Three Indian Campaigns |
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By General Wesley Merritt in 1890 |
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The Pursuit, by Courier & Ives, 1856.
This image is available for photographic
prints
HERE.
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| Making war on
Indians is unlike any other war-making in which armies engage.
Finding them, not fighting them, is the difficult problem to solve. If
the reader will consider that the theatre of operations in any
Indian campaign whether in
Wyoming,
Dakota, the
Indian Territory
and
Texas ,
or Arizona
is about as large as the New England States with New York added; that
each of these possible theatres of war is an uninhabited wilderness;
that they are without roads, and often impenetrable for hundreds of
miles because of arid deserts or impassable mountain ranges; that
while all parts of each territory are to the
Indian as familiar as the paths of the home orchard are to the
farmer and his children, it is and of necessity must be an unknown
land to the best informed white man; that in these trackless wilds the
Indian has no fixed habitation; that upon being discovered by his
enemy the direction of the trail he takes is a matter of indifference
to him; that where night finds him is his home, and that his
subsistence and clothing are always with him - if all these and
collateral matters depending on them are considered, an idea can be
formed of how difficult it is to make successful war on the
Indian. In
war the
Indian, though partially civilized, reverts to his worst phase of
savagery. Much has been written as to the false sentimentality which
crops up in the discussion of the
Indian question by humanitarians and lovers of fair play, which it
is not intended here to repeat. But it may properly be observed that
it is worse than nonsense to urge that the
Indian regards the white intruders as the descendants of those
who, two centuries and more ago, came to this country and by might
deprived the
Indians of their lands and hunting fields, and is through his
children pursuing the red man toward the setting sun. The
Indians knowledge of history scarcely extends beyond one
generation. His white enemy is served in war as is any other enemy,
and for the same reasons. He has no inherited animosities dating from
the time of the Pilgrim Fathers, nor does he feel gratitude for kind
usage shown to his ancestors or to himself. The annuities paid him are
looked upon as tributes exacted by fear or some less worthy principle,
and kindnesses shown him are evidences to his mind that those by whom
they are shown are weak and afraid of him.
Fortunately for the whites, the
Indians in their warfare are not in the habit of attacking our so
called forts on the frontier, else the horrors of past wars would
equal in any year the fearful pictures of the
Indian mutiny against the English. Our frontier forts have
often been at the mercy of the
Indians, but the capture in any instance could not have been made
without great loss of life, and it is characteristic of the race that
they are slow to attack when certain death awaits any great numbers.
They are brave where superstitious beliefs make the chances of safety
greatly in their favor, but will not take the risks that satisfy the
civilized warrior.
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The Battle of the
Little
Bighorn, painting by
Charles Russell, 1903.
This image available for
photographic prints
and downloads
HERE!
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The
three consecutive years commencing with the Centennial year are remarkable
for three of the most memorable campaigns against
Indians
known to our annals. The country will not soon forget the thrill of horror
with which the news of the massacre of
Custer and his command was received
in 1876. An entire command of 15 officers and 232 enlisted men was
annihilated, with not one left to tell the details of their destruction.
All know the history of this sad affair: it is a thrice-told tale, with
nothing to redeem it or palliate it as a disaster. It added only to the
prowess. of the
Indian,
and forever saddened the lives of those who were left to mourn.
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The next year,
1877, occurred the wonderful retreat and defense of
Chief Joseph with the
Nez Perce,
pursued by General Howard and his command from
Idaho
Territory to
Montana, a distance of more than thirteen hundred miles, along which,
at different points, were intercepting forces, which hacked and cut at the
Indians,
till at last, reduced in numbers and equipment, they surrendered to an
intercepting force, part of the original pursuers being present at the
surrender. It was a wonderful pursuit, pluckily persisted in, in the face
of every possible hardship; but who can do justice to the labor, courage,
and endurance of the retreat? How in-tensely interesting would be an
account from
Chief Joseph, if he had the pen
of a ready writer and could make his own report !his feints, stratagems,
and ambuscades; the resolute marches in which he distanced his pursuers;
his defense and passage of rivers, with all his impedimenta, including
women and children; the meeting and battling with the intercepting forces,
or the avoidance of these and escape across difficult and unknown country,
until, finally deceived only in reference to the character of the country
he was seeking and the friends he was to meet, he was finally brought to
bay like a hunted lion, terrible even in his death struggles.
The year following, 1878, occurred another
campaign, in regard to which less has been written, but which is none the
less remarkable, as indicating the genius for war which is intended to
deceive and defeat pursuit, for which the
Indian
has become so famous.
Continued Next Page |
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Chief Joseph, of the
Nez Perce,
photographed in
1880 while visiting
Washington DC, to plead
unsuccessfully for the
return of his people to their
ancestral homeland. Photo
courtesy Yale University. |
Also See:
Battles, Campaigns & Massacres of the Indian Wars
Frontier
Skirmishes between the Pioneers & the Indians
Indian
Fighters
Indian Wars
of the Frontier West
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From the Rocky Mountain General Store
Native
American Photo Prints -
Vintage photographs of famous chiefs, heroes, and
Indian
life in the 19th century.
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