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Show REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF INDIAN AFFAIRS. 9 In Al~ril1, 8Ft, a ra~~ehulannam ed Ilipley wrnt to Camp Saubur~l,cal So~~rl'llla tte, and el~argellth e Ii~dianaw ith steuling his titi~:li. A Lien. ' tenant Uuun ~)rorerdet~ol a .orch tiw. L I I r~o uld ilta find it. Fal l i~~irll: with a compahy of Cheyennes, an aitenipt was made to disarm the-lat-ter. In the me]& one soldier was killed and some others wounded. Then followed the Cheyenne war, culminating in the massacre at Sand Creek of 120 friendly Indians, mostly women and children, resting in their own hunting grounds under the protection of our flag. This affair is known as the Uhivington massacre. This war cost the treasury probably not less than $40,000,000, an immense amount of valuable property, and no oue can tell how many lives, involving, as it did, not only the Cheyennes and Apaches, but the Arapahoes, Kiowas, and Comanches, and many bands of the Sioux, aull was ended by the treaty of 1865, at the month of the Little Arkansas. In 1866 the military took possession of the Powder riTer country iu Da.kota, within the acknowledged territory of the Sioux, and planted military posts Phil. Eearney, Reno, and 0. I?. Smith, without tho consent of the Indian proprietors, and in dU'ebt violation of treaty, stipulations. A fierce and bloody war ensued, costing us many millions of dollars, several hundred lives, including the killed at the Port Kearney massacre, and much valuable property. On the 19th of April, 1867, a military coqlmand burned the peaceful viUage of the Cheyennes on Pawnee Fork, mesttlm Kansas, who had been at peace with us since thedreaty of 1865, on the Arkansas, a,~id were then on lands assigned tRem by that t,reaty. Tlle Cheyennes flew to arm5 and khe war of 1867 followed, in which we lost over 300 soldiers and citizens, several millions of dollars in expenses,, and an immense amonnt of public and private property, and killed, it is believed, six Indians, and no more. The pretext for our celebrated Navajo war in New Mexico, it is nuder-stood, was the shooting of a negro servant boy of a uilitarj oflicer by an Indian, and the refusal to s u ~ ~ e n dtehre slayer on the part of the Nava-joes, who, nevertheless, proposed to make the amend, after the Infi1.n fashion, by peouniary satisfaction for the offence. %our campaigus against the Navajoes resulted, in three of rrhich OIW army failed of either success or glory. In the fourth the. I~ldians suc-cumbed to the sunerior stratem of the renowned Kit Carson. and were compelled, by hunger, to surrender. This war cost the treasury many millions of dollass, and the people the loss of many lives and val~abiep roperty. On the Pacific coast the indiscretions pf our military, I am informed, produced similar unfortunate results, and nearly all our troubles with the Indians there, ma7ring our history with cruel massacres, and in some instances with the extermination of whole bands, had their origin in tl~e presence. and unwise action of our military. In evidence of this state-ment I refer to the letter of Mr. Ansou Dart, ex-8iiperintendent of Indian affilirs fur Oregon and Washington Territory, to be fonnd herewith. Now if, as I think, I hiwe shown military interference has been prolific of war even since the bureau has beenin civil control, what of peace and tr&nq:illity can be expected if it be placed entirely in military hands? 4. Nilitary management of Indian affa<rs hay been tried for smentem years and hm proved a failure, and mwt, in my judgment, in the very nature of thinqs, alwaysprove afailure. Soldiers are educated and trained in the'science of war and in the arts of a,~,ms. Civilians are taught in the sciences and arts of peaceful civili-zation. In lifting up races fYom the degradat,ion of savage barbarism |