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A LETTER FROM LIEUTENANT GENERAL SHERIDAN.

The following letter was received from Lieutenant General Sheridan as this volume was about going to press. The author is induced to publish it, in this connection, in view of its accord with his own views expressed on the Indian policy.

HEADQUARTERS MILITARY DIVISION OF the

MISSOURI, CHICAGO, ILLS., April 28, 1870.

Mr. De B. Randolph Keim.

DEAR SIR: I have carefully read the proof-sheets sent me of your forthcoming book, (Sheridan's Troopers on the Borders,) and think well of it.

I may say in reference to the management of Indians, the reservation system is the only one offering any prospects of success, but all experience has shown that the wild Indian will not adopt it until he is forced to do so. All the tribes on the Northern Pacific coast had to be subdued and forced on the reservations, which was accomplished between the years 1855 1860. Then peace ensued. Latterly the same policy has been pursued in regard to the Comanches, Kiowas, Cheyennes, and Arrapahoes.

After the wild Indians are put upon the reservations a strong military force will have to be kept there to protect the agents and others required in the work of civilization, and also for the subordination of the Indians, and their protection against the encroachments of the white settlers, who otherwise would take possession of their lands.

Very truly, yours,

P. H. SHERIDAN,

Lieutenant General.

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SHERIDAN'S TROOPERS

ON THE

BORDERS.

CHAPTER I.

ON THE SUNSET SIDE OF THE MISSOURI — ARRIVAL AT LEAVENWRTH_ⱭTY — STILL WESTWARD.

ESS than a year and half ago, one midnight, the writer of these pages entered the distant western town of Leavenworth in the state of Kansas. Three sooty lanterns cast a dubious light upon a dozen passengers groping their way amongst threshing machines, barrels and boxes, towards a rickety and battered coach. Said coach had the appearance of having migrated, by slow stages, all the way from the Atlantic sea-board, keeping pace with the advance tide of civilization, and shunning railroads as relentless intruders. The coach had, evidently, last seen paint east of the Alleghany mountains, and in its western march of progress had become quite bare of those embellishments which, doubtless, formerly attracted so much attention and observation among the children. In the dim flicker of lanterns it was a spectre of a coach. About an inch of candle, stuck to the floor, in the front end, was suggestive of the necessity of haste, or the inevitable and speedy succession of darkness. The interior cushions and fittings had the appearance of the coach being converted, nightly, into a sleeping apartment. In this ma chine, the writer and his fellow-travelers set out for the hotel

about a quarter of a mile distant, on the top of the bluff. A crack of the whip, and a few words of encouragement from the driver, fired the quadrupeds in front with astounding vivacity. They bounded off, over several rail-road tracks, into several ruts, altogether with such unexpected velocity, that the hulk of the coach groaned and labored, pitched and rolled, like a ship at sea, while the occupants, baggage and all, were jostled about in the most unsatisfactory manner.

Arriving at the hotel the nightly nuisances, at all hotels, were still about gazing at each individual as he blinked out of the darkness, into the office. Knowingly they watched each stranger put his name upon the register, and immediately after rushed up to farther gratify their sense of importance and provincial curiosity. The writer having been provided with apartments, impressed into his service a yawning, half-a-sleep negro, who just at this timely moment made his appearance through a window looking into the coat-room. Led off by this same sable youth, he soon found himself comfortably, (that is for nearly fifteen hundred miles west of Atlantic tide water,) provided for the recuperation of his physical forces.

Wonderful indeed it was to reflect upon the sudden transition and great lesson of the age. In the brief space of four days, traversing six States of the Union, and a distance of twelve hundred and thirty-five miles, I now stood upon the west bank of the Missouri. Less than twenty-five years ago to accomplish this same distance would have been the toil of months. A century ago civilization had not yet ventured away from the Atlantic seaboard. Such has been the marvelous progress of American Industry and Enterprise. Opulent cities and thriving towns and villages, linked together by a net-work of iron highways and electric wires, now cover all the vast region sweeping away from the Alleghanies to the confines of the great plains in the very heart of the continent.

Thus remote from the older seats of civilization and settle ment is the town or city, I believe is the term, intended to dig Kify the place, of Leavenworth. It is a fine, thrifty community.

with a population of about fifteen thousand souls. It is beautifully located on a series of bluffs, overlooking the muddy waters of the Missouri. It possesses some very fine buildings. The Public School would compete with any structure of the kind in a city ten times the size. The new Catholic church bears the same relation to Leavenworth notions of the wonderful, as the great organ does to the extreme ideas of Boston. The building is really an ornament and an enterprise of just pride. Leavenworth society, properly speaking, is good, and is principally composed of the old settlers, persons of moderate means generally, but hospitable. The transient circles are composed of interlopers, government contractors, Indian agents, and Indian feeders. The place is a famous winter resort for Indian men, and is a sort of general base of operations for anything that turns up in which the government is a principal party.

Several miles out of town, on a bluff overlooking the Mis. souri, is situated Fort Leavenworth. This is one of the early posts built when civilization with feeble steps, began its march across the continent. Fort Leavenworth is now properly a station for troops and depot for the supply of the posts on the upper Missouri and on the Plains. It is therefore easy to account for the class of people, generally "sharpers" who make their "stopping place" at Leavenworth or as it is some time symbolically represented "11worth." The fort is made up of a collection of barracks, officers quarters, an arsenal, stables, haystacks and board piles. The buildings are well constructed and substantial. To prevent encroachment the government retained a large plot of ground probably over a thousand acres, known as the "Reservation." As the country around has become well settled, for several years past a number of patriots and public economists have been at work with Congress trying to effect the passage of a bill authorizing the sale of the premises.

It will prove a large profit to some one or set of worthies, who always display so intense an interest to relieve the government of a share of its responsibilities.

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