Grenville Dodge

But the fact is the Indians did not give up until they were thoroughly thrashed and made to recognize the power and authority of the Government.

The policy of the United States in dealing with the Indian problem is beyond the comprehension of any sensible man.

They were treated the same as foreign nations; and while they made treaties they never carried out their part of them, breaking them whenever the trend of civilization westward interfered with them in any way.

If the Government had treated the Indians as a ward that they were bound to protect, as the English did, they would have had very little trouble in handling them.

My sincere desire is to terminate these Indian troubles, and I have no hesitation in saying that if I am allowed to carry out the policy now being pursued toward them I will have peace with them before another emigration crosses the plains.

That these Indians have been greatly wronged I have no doubt, and I am certain that the agents who have been connected with them are as much to blame as any one else.

I condemned it, and I have issued orders that no such acts will be tolerated or allowed; that the Indians on the warpath must be fought wherever and whenever found, but no outrages or barbarities must be committed.

They take positions for the sole purpose of making money out of the Indians by swindling them, and so long as they can do this they shield them in their crimes.

The Indians say to me that they will treat with an officer of the army (a brave), in all of whom they seem to have confidence, while they despise and suspect civilian agents and citizens, by whom they say they have been deceived and…

I shall myself go out on the plains in a few weeks and try to get an interview with the chiefs and if possible effect an amicable settlement of affairs; but I am utterly opposed to making any treaty that pays them for the outrages they…

Such treaties last just as long as they think them for their benefit, and no longer.

As soon as the sugar, coffee, powder, lead, etc., that we give them, is gone, they make war to get us to give them more.

We must first punish them until we make them fear us and respect our power, and then we must ourselves live strictly up to the treaties made.

No one desires more than I do to effect a permanent peace with these Indians, and such is the desire of every officer under me, all of whom agree in the method suggested for bringing it about.

When peace is made with them, if civilian agents and citizens are sent among them, send those who you know to be of undoubted integrity.

My plan, however, would be to keep these Indians under the care of officers of the army, stationed in their country; that what is given them be given by these officers, and that all citizens, agents and traders should, while among them, be…

In this way I have no doubt these Indians can be kept in their own country, their outrages stopped, and our overland routes kept safe.

For months prior to that affair the Indians had been attacking our trains, posts, and ranches; had robbed the emigrants and murdered any party they considered too weak to defend themselves.

The theory that we cannot punish these Indians effectually, and that we must make or accept any kind of a peace in order to hold our overland routes, is not sustained by the facts, is singularly erroneous, and I cannot agree to it by any…

I have now seven different columns of troops penetrating their country in all directions, while at the same time I am holding the overland routes.

This display of force alone will alarm and terrify them; will show them that we are in earnest, have the power, and intend at all hazards to make them behave themselves.

I shall be glad at any and all times to furnish you any information in my possession that you may desire, and I assure you I shall bend all my energies to the accomplishment of the great object in view and so much desired--a lasting and…

It is no wonder that with such ignorance in the Cabinet as to the condition of the country, that the administration at Washington was so incompetent in the Civil War.

No person can read Secretary Wells's diary of the daily doings at Washington of the Cabinet during President Lincoln's administration and see how little appreciation and support he got from his Cabinet.

Dissensions among themselves and hardly ever agreeing on any important question, brings to view the great responsibility of the President and the fact that in all the important matters he was dependent upon his own judgment.