MASSACRES OF NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS IN 1855.

Lyttelton Times, Volume VI, Issue 405, 20 September 1856, Page 2

MASSACRES OF NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS IN 1855.

The 'New York Daily Times' furnishes the following history of the dealings of the United States with the native Indians of North America, during the past year :— The documents accompanying the report of the Secretary of War present a vivid but most melancholy picture of our Indian relations. The last year was a period of almost incessant conflict between the white and the red man, in Washington and Oregon Territories, in California. New Mexico, Texas, and the northern plains. From the reports of military officers, communicated by'the Secretary, we doubt whether in all the annals of the Ions? stru<T<T] e between the races on this continent, a year of more active, and relentless warfare can be found.

The correspondence of General Wool with the department throws nearly the whole responsibility for the bloody scenes which have darkened the history of the year in Oregon and Washington, upon the whites ; and indicates, we think, his dissatis • faction with the service in which he is employed. He describes the insults and outrages inflicted upon the Indians with detestation, and the exploits of the rangers and volunteers with scorn. On tbe 30th January, 1855, he states that savage excesses ware committed upon the Indians in Oregon, by certain of the inhabitants, and the Indians retaliated by shooting some of the aggressors. It appears that, in the General's omnion, this was the beginning; of the war. Accordingly, he seems to have employed his troops as energetically in protecting the Indians as in avenging upon them the alleged wrongs of the citizens. He speaks of some of the volunteer leaders by name, -with severe condemnation, and condemns their so-called " battles " with the Indians as unprovoked murders. lie indicates his opinion that their claims for pay ought not to be.allowed. Nevertheless he approves of the summary trial and hanging of some of the Indians charged with murders in revenge of outrages committed upon them by the whites, when conducted by authority of his own officers. In one case, an Indian shot a white man at a council held by an Indian agent. He was committed to the custody of a detachment of troops. A party of whites hilled the offender and another Indian, while in charge of the troops. The latter fired°upon t! c whites and killed three of them. Tnis little incident passes as miscellaneous business "without remark. On the 19th October, General Wool quietly observes, " the whites have determined to exterminate the Indians in trirst region—hence they kill indiscriminately the innocent as well as the guilty. Governor Cuny, of Oregon, goes into the war with enthusiasm <u>d zest, strongly in contrast with General Wool. He promptly calls out thirteen companies of volunteers, promising pay from Uncle Sam's ample chest. He congratulates himself that,

within the short space of three weeks, eight hundred men, fully armed and equipped, responded to his call, trusting- to Congress for reimbursement. The following* illustration of savage warfare has a touch of the horrible with which . Salvator Rosa might have tinged his gloomiest creations. It is from General Wool's despatch of November last:— "Captain Smith reports that a party of whites, who had organised themselves into a company, with the avowed purpose of assisting the regular troops in pursuing and chastising the Shasta Indians for recent murders, attacked, on the Bth ultimo, two camps of friendly Indians in the immediate vicinity of the reserve, ar.d "killed twentyfive,—four very old men, four young men, and seventeen squaws and children. Exasperated by these brutal outrages, some of the Indians o 1 the reserve and in the valley, heretofore friendly, proceeded to murder the whites indiscriminately, burning their houses, and destroying everything in their way." But it seems that blows are to be taken as well as given. On the 3rd of OctoberMajor Haller, 'with one hundred dragoon# of the regular army, was defeated by the Indians and forced to retreat, after losing five of his .men killed, and nineteen wounded, one camion, and thirty horses and. mules. In New Mexico, the operations were active from Ist January to Ist June. The campaign ended in May, with a battle, in which forty Indians were killed, and about sixty wounded. Ten or twelve smart skirmishes marked the progress of the war, in which the Indians were generally routed and dispersed ; but on one occasion, they killed the commander of the attacking party, and some of his men, and forced the survivors to retreat. On another occasion, the Indians surprised a settlement and killed fifteen men, and carried off the women and children. In Texas, the State has cultivated Indian wars for the amusement and profit of her citizens, and General Persifer F. Smith* has performed the part of a candid lookeron in "Verona. This duty of supervision, however; has cost the Government nearly two millions of dollars within the year. Fortunately for the credit of the country, the'history of the Sioux expedition is short. It consists solely of the report of the Com-mander-General Harney. He describes clearly and frankly the massacre of the Brule Indians at the Blue Water,' on the 2nd September, without apology, and without any attempt to conceal its atrocious character, evidently considering that it is his, business to kill Indians, and not to justify himself for doii^ so. We observe with surprise and deep regret that, in transmitting this report to the Adjutant-General, General Scott causes his Secretary to write "that the General-in-Chief highly approves of the conduct of General Harney, and his command." Such is a brief and imperfect summary of Indian hostilities for 1855. It is for the good and the wise to consider whether the system from which these results flow is the best one for managing the poor remnants of the Aborigines. Extermination may be an effectual mode of preventing all "agitation" of perplexing Indian questions, and so. may be proaouncucV constitutional and conservative; but is it just, humane, or right? Is there no way of adjusting or concluding this conflict of races, except by .the extirpation of the weaker ?