Page:Life among the Apaches.djvu/325

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been validated.
LIFE AMONG THE APACHES.
319

extent of country; the unavailability of one of the richest mineral regions in the "Union, and the continuance of the perils to which immigrants are exposed while crossing it, should have sufficed to teach us that we have been suffering from an inadequate system of warfare. It is time that something more rigorous were tried. Matters can scarcely be worse than they have been and are.

Forty or fifty infantry at a post, which has its Commissary and Quarter-Master's establishments, with their various belongings; its hospital with its corps of nurses, cooks and attendants; its Adjutant's office with his clerks; the Commander's orderly, the company clerk, and other modes of occupying the troops, can scarcely be deemed a very effective force in an Apache country. Nevertheless, such is the style of warfare which has been carried on—occasionally varied by a small squad of cavalry making a scout with great lumbering army wagons, marching by day, and following the highways. Let no one imagine that these remarks are in any way intended to reflect on the officers and men doing duty in Arizona and New Mexico. All such idea is emphatically disavowed. They do the very best that can be done under the circumstances. No man can be expected to fight advantageously with both hands tied behind him. They can't help themselves; but are placed in an awkward and embarrassing position from which there seems to be no escape.

While Congress has been voting millions for various improvements, would it not have been wise to appropriate a small amount for the purification of two immensely rich and extensive Territories in the very heart of the country? If Alaska be worth seven millions, Arizona and New Mexico are worth one hundred. It has been