Two Wars: An Autobiography of General Samuel G. French / Mexican War; War between the States, a Diary; Reconstruction Period, His Experience; Incidents, Reminiscences, etc.

by Samuel Gibbs French

The respective numbers of the different bands may be set down (by their own computation principally) about as follows: Delawares, 63; Shawnees, 70; Tonkaways, 300; Quapas, 200; Caddoes, 160; Anadoces, 200; Iones, 113; Keechies, 48; Tawacanoes, 140; Wacoes, 114; Lepans, 350; Lower Comanches, 700; and the Northern Comanches at 1,500. These tribes roam over the country watered by the Red, Trinity, Brazos, Colorado, Nueces, and San Pedro rivers and their tributaries near their sources. The Northern Comanches have the most extensive range for the pursuit of the buffalo to the north of the Canadian. They traverse the entire country to the south, and by their ancient warpaths cross the Pecos, continue to the Rio Grande, enter Mexico, and carry their depredations far into the interior of that distracted country. The southern band of Comanches, and all the other tribes enumerated, are found frequently associated together, and on the northern portions of the line near their home visit those posts in seeming friendship.

That barren, dreary, and desolate region immediately west of the Pecos has not sufficient claims to be in possession of any Indians. The Northern Comanches pass over a portion of it as they wander alternately from the north to the south, and the different bands into which the Apaches are divided approach its borders from the north and west.

The Apaches are divided into numerous bands, and, united with other tribes in New Mexico, have been variously estimated at from fifteen to thirty thousand, the former being perhaps nearer the truth.

The condition of all these Indians, except some few of the Delawares, is truly lamentable. Denied the possession of lands and a home, despising industry, and regarding labor as degrading, no provision is made for subsistence by the cultivation of the soil; but, depending entirely upon the flesh of the horse, the mule, the uncertainty of the chase, and the few wild products of the country, they wander about exposed to all the vicissitudes and every ill of life that can arise from disease, extreme exposure to cold, nakedness, and hunger bordering on starvation, leading an existence more filthy than swine, and as precarious and uncertain as the wolf; and this life is rendered, if it be possible, even yet more intolerable by the almost entire absence of laws respecting property and the rights of the individual. Their views of property tend toward socialism, without that restraint by which the strong are prevented from plundering the weak, and but few injuries have legal redress. However strongly their condition would seem to appeal to philanthropy for relief, much sympathy is lost in the remembrance that their code of morals inculcates many of our vices as their cardinal virtues, and regards our virtues as so many vices or traits of weakness, while their atrocious barbarities shock every sensibility of nature and humanity. The experience of the Jesuit fathers, other Christian missionaries, and learned professors would almost incline us to believe that the Indian is endowed with certain instincts, as they might be called, that are inherent in his nature, and not always directing him to good, which neither separation from his people, education from infancy, the attainments of academies, attractions of wealth, the refinements of society, nor the doctrines and precepts of Christianity can destroy; and, after all, he stands in nature an Indian still. Be this as it may, of one thing we are certain, they are thrown on our borders and violate our laws, and it becomes a question how best to control them, and what policy to pursue in our relations with them. They are now being encroached upon by settlements on the frontier that will soon encompass them on many sides. We are circumscribing their bounds, limiting their hunting expeditions, and destroying their game. And there is no checking these encroachments, for the State of Texas claims possession of all the domain within her boundaries, and no act of the agents of the Federal government can at present cede them a portion of her territory, or military force restrain the lawless traders established in the Indian country. Treaties may be effected with them, but they cannot stipulate to restrain citizens from settling on their hunting grounds, nor grant them many immunities. It is, under the present condition of affairs, vain to suppose that the most skillful combinations for military operations can check a famished, wild, and degraded people from committing depredations on the lonely roads and extended prairies, for the purpose of clothing their naked women and children and to satisfy the calls of hunger; and more especially so when these very acts are not regarded as wrong, and are the only steps by which the untutored brave gains distinction or renown among his people and receives the awards due to valor. Theft with them is no crime, but only a legitimate profession. In all civilized communities ambition is satisfied in pursuing innumerable channels of a civil nature. The Indian has but two, war and the chase, and they are now no longer pleasures, but made a burden by the stern necessities of providing subsistence.

How to control these nomadic tribes various plans have been suggested, but all calling for legislative action, and I feel a reluctance in alluding to them. But I know of none more humane in the end than to teach them the power of our government, then grant them a territory, dismount them as far as necessary, feed and clothe them to a sufficient extent to make them dependent on our agents, elevate the character of their war and council chiefs in the estimation of their respective tribes by treating them with some distinction and consideration, whereby their influence over the bands will become greater, and they will become instrumental in carrying out our wishes. Encourage the cultivation of the soil, and establish a few plain, salutary laws for their government and for regulating the intercourse of the whites with them, and have them enforced by the aid of the military; and then, perhaps ere long, tranquillity may be known on the frontier where for so many years partial war has been waged. A similar policy might be urged from other considerations, especially to prevent the immense amount of claims constantly growing out of what are alleged to be Indian depredations, and the expense of maintaining so large a force remote from points where the supplies are drawn.

Were the State of Texas to grant the Indians within her borders a definite territory, ceding the jurisdiction thereof to the United States, so that the proper laws regulating the intercourse of the whites with them could be established and enforced, and were they but partially clothed and fed, the State would have peace on the frontier, immigration to her shores would increase, the immense resources of the country would be developed, and prosperity, spreading happiness among her people, would spring up over her entire dominions.

The service upon which I have been engaged has induced me to urge upon your consideration the propriety of recommending to the honorable Secretary of War the necessity for, and the advantages that would be derived from, a legislative enactment whereby a limited number of employees could be enlisted in the service of the department for a term of years, subject to such rules and regulations as in such cases may be established by proper authority.

When passing through Galveston I had the pleasure to examine the establishment of Mr. G. Borden for the manufacture of meat biscuit. Two cans, in a crushed state, containing five pounds each, were purchased, and on our journey to El Paso and back it was almost constantly used; and, in connection with vegetables, was found an excellent article. We had no such object in view as to test the usefulness to any extent, but from its convenience and palatable qualities it naturally came into daily use. I gave away one can of it, which served a party of four persons, who came from New Mexico to San Antonio without pack animals, as a reliable dependence for food on a journey of about six hundred miles to the nearest settlements. They made it a substitute for animal food excepting when they chanced to meet game, and spoke of it in commendable terms. In forming a part of the ration it would commend itself, economically, in a degree somewhat proportionate to the diminution it would make in the weight of the ration; but the military advantages it would afford, where land transportation is difficult, and certain results are to be obtained, cannot be so well calculated. In many points of view it commends itself so favorably, as a component part of the ration for particular service, that it is worthy of more than a single trial.

During the months of March and April the teams were employed in bringing up the supplies for the troops in the Eighth Military Department, and were sent on any other duty that the service required, and were not confined exclusively to transporting the stores destined for the troops in New Mexico. The provisions for the escort were conveyed from San Antonio; and from the forage that I received were fed the animals belonging to the officers' teams, and some was issued to the train of the Boundary Commission in the service of Col. Graham. These and other circumstances connected with the general duties of the service have rendered it impossible for me to present you with more than an approximate estimate of the cost per pound for transportation to El Paso. I have embraced in the calculation the cost of freight of the provisions for the escort; the transportation of the rations for the employees of the department, and the value thereof; the compensation for service of all persons connected with the train; the loss of animals; incidental expenses, etc.; and find the cost per pound, from the Gulf to El Paso, to be about nineteen cents. This will not exceed the expenses per pound under the contract for the previous year, but it exceeds that now paid citizens who own small trains and are carrying, to a limited amount, by four cents per pound. To the government the forage for the animals has been a heavy item of expenditure, and although I allowed only a third of the rations of corn, without long forage, yet it has, owing to the exorbitant price it commands, amounted to over two-fifths of the entire expense of the expedition.

When the grazing is good small trains of twenty or thirty wagons may avoid the use of grain almost entirely by traveling more slowly and stopping oftener to graze; and if the department will thus risk supplies without escorts of any kind, it may, to some extent, diminish expense, but it will be attended with more uncertainty.