NA. Smith to Grant, Washington, D.C., 28 October 1867, Selected ACP, O. E. Herrick, RG 94, 90 Herrick to the Adjutant General, Washington, D.C., 2 November 1867, including attached reports, Selected ACP, O. E. Herrick, RG 94, NA. 91 Andrews to Brigadier General B. H. Hill, Key West, Florida, 29 November 1867, including attached reports, Selected ACP, O. E. Herrick, RG 94, NA. 92 General Order No. 4, Headquarters 3d Artillery, Key West, Florida, 16 September 1869, Selected ACP, O. E. Herrick, RG 94, NA. 93 Statement of the Military Service of the Late George P. Van Wyck, Adjutant General's Office, Washington, D.C., 5 February 1901, Selected ACP, G. P. Van Wyck; Heitman, Historical Register and Dictionary, Vol. I, p. 985. 04 Monthly Report of Chaplain George P. Van Wyck, from McPherson Barracks, Atlanta, Georgia, 1 December 1875. OATH never One to accompany the accept offeer appolated or commis. tered into the service David Hills have been , having been appointed in the MILITARY SERVION of the United States, de solemnly swear that I have by BORNE ARMS against the United States since I a citizen thereof; that at home valuxtasily given moes. matto la potions augaged in HAMED HARTHATY th: that I have neither sought, nor accepted, nor attempted to exercise the functions of ANY OFFICE WHATEVER, under any authority, or protended authority, IN BOSTILITY to the United States; that had yielded ucluntary won ng PHAPONER¬ www the United States, And I do further swear that, to the best of my knowledge and ability, I will DOMESTIC: SUPPORT and DEFEND the CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES against all enemies, FORDION and DUTIES any 27 "Ironclad" oath of office signed by post chaplain David Wills in 1879. Though Wills, a Southerner, lined out the two clauses about giving aid and support to enemies of the United States, he was appointed and served until 1886. (National Archives) CHAPTER 2 In the West: 1865-1898 (Part 1) THE FRONTIER SETTING The end of the Civil War was the beginning of the end for the red man. He was locked in combat with the white man from the time the first European set foot on American soil, and the post-Civil War Indian campaigns were only more battles in that great unconventional and protracted war. There was never any doubt as to the outcome of the conflict; advanced and better organized societies have always conquered nomadic and pastoral peoples.' It was just a matter of time. Will Rogers, the humorist with Cherokee blood, said, "The worst mistake the Red Man ever made was when he let these white men land," and so it was. By the last decade of the nineteenth century, the white man conquered the last of the "First Americans." 3 2 Several names have been given to the years between the Civil and Spanish-American wars, but for the Army it was the period of the Indian campaigns. The Army was in the West enforcing Federal policy toward the Indians, whatever that policy might have been at a particular place and time. The policy was seldom, if ever, the same everywhere. At one point it was one of extermination, as expressed by General Philip H. Sheridan, who was reported to have said that "the only good Indians I ever saw were dead." " Most of the time, it was one of segregation and pacification on the reservation through treaties that contained, as President Lincoln said "stipulations for extinguishing the possessory rights of the Indians to large and valuable tracts of land." Lincoln hoped these treaties would "result in the establishment of permanent friendly relations" between the white and red man, but at best his hope was wishful thinking. For the white man who negotiated the treaties broke them often, with impunity, and gained the name of Washechu (split tongue). At still another point, for a few years in the early 1890s when Indians 5 See notes at end of chapter. 4 were being enlisted in the Army to ascertain if they could serve well as soldiers, the policy was one of assimilation and education. The Secretary of War directed that with the exception of the four black regiments (9th and 10th Cavalry; 24th and 25th Infantry) and four white regiments. (6th, 11th, 15th, and 19th Infantry), one Indian unit—either an “I” company or a "L" troop-be created in every regiment in the West. Unfortunately, the directive ended in failure, because the Army attempted to transform the "Red Bluecoats" into conventional soldiers rather than to exploit their unique abilities, as it did with the Indian scouts.' But whatever the Federal policy, it usually served the white man more than the Indian. Related to the Army's mission of enforcing Federal Indian policy were its two other missions: Protecting the lives and property of white settlers, and enforcing Federal law in the several territories. The Army was really more a police force than an army. Moreover, considering its size in comparison with its missions, its responsibilities were almost overwhelming. The West covered a vast area which was slowly becoming populated wherever there was mining, trapping, cattle, and wheat. As the railroad made its way into these scattered places and across the continent, the migration rate increased significantly, and with it the Army's responsibilities for guarding the railroad and telegraph lines and the various trails that led to and from these lines of communication. Considering its actual able-bodied and present-for-duty strength, along with the fact that it was really a conventional warfare force expected to fight an enemy who used only guerilla warfare tactics, its responsibilities appeared even more overwhelming." To accomplish its threefold mission, the Army operated from a string of forts manned by Regular Army troops; it was a motley melting pot of black freedmen; immigrants from Ireland, Great Britain, France, Germany, Scandinavia, Italy, and Russia; and native Americans, including a few Indians. Some had served as Volunteers in the Union Army, and a few enlisted men were former officers. There were youths who were too young to serve during the Civil War and lads recently graduated from West Point. There were farmers, blacksmiths, clerks, and salesmen who had drunk themselves out of a job. Some were bums from the bowery, and others were criminals one step ahead of the law and enlisted under assumed names. Some men were "snowbirds" (Men who joined the Army for food and shelter during the winter, and deserted when the weather turned warm), and others joined to reach the gold fields |