for Indian operations, promote their general welfare, and result in greater economy to the government. Now that railroads have been constructed and are being extended through the country inhabited or frequented by the Indian tribes, the necessity that formerly existed for numerous small and detached posts has ceased.

Large posts established at important centers for operation are in my judgment advisable, and I think also that the proper buildings to accommodate the troops and public stores should be erected from Congressional appropriations, and not in a piecemeal manner by the labor of the troops; their services are needed for military instruction and field services.

Attention is respectfully called to the large numbers of absentees on detached service, and of enlisted men on extra, special, and daily duty. The consequence is that companies are frequently reduced to a skeleton strength for duty. Under the circumstances of the policy pursued and orders to enforce it, this condition of things becomes a necessity, and it tends to destroy that pride which officers and men should take in their profession and respective commands. It would, in my opinion, be far better for the public interests if many of the duties, including clerical, now performed by soldiers, were executed by hired civilian employés."

The assignment of cavalry recruits to regiments and companies, before they are properly instructed at depots, to fill requisitions, is an unfortunate necessity.

It would, I think, be highly advantageous to the Army and promote its efficiency if some provision was made by Congress to anticipate by some months the reduction of regiments by discharge, &c., and to authorize enlistments, so that all recruits should be thoroughly instructed in their respective arms of the service before being sent from the depots to regiments.

General Orders No. 24, Adjutant-General's Office, February 22, 1881, in regard to the sale of intoxicating liquor at military posts and stations, is not having the effect desired—that is, of inducing temperance in the Army. Lieut. Col. W. B. Royall reports as follows:

"All the posts in this department have certain defined limits, say, generally, a reservation of three square miles. Outside of these reservations there are an unlimited number of grog-shops, to which the soldier can steal out of garrison when not on duty, and visit to his heart's content. Being out of sight of his officers and away from control, he has full scope to carouse and get drunk. Before this order went into force there were no inducements for the soldier to go out of the garrison for his grog, and should he become under the influence of liquor at the post, there was a remedy and a way to take care of him, a guard-house to confine him until he became sober, and to restrain him. Now he is under no restraint at these whisky shops, and he gets into rows with the habitués of the place, and sometimes is murdered by the lawless men of these dens. The commanding officer at Fort Bridger informed me that he had a soldier killed not long since by being in a drunken brawl with some citizens at one of these whisky ranches just outside the limits of the post, whom he believes would have been still living if he had not been denied the privilege of buying his dram at the posttrader's. An officer of the post of Niobrara informed me that Lieutenant Cherry's death might be remotely attributed to this same order. It has long been an established fact that you cannot legislate to restrain men's appetites or their passions. It has been tried in all our large cities, and the best way found is to license an evil you cannot destroy."

The employment of soldiers as servants, by officers, is in most cases unavoidable, on account of the exorbitant sums demanded for service; besides, at many posts, servants cannot be obtained at any price. The law in relation to the use of enlisted men as servants should be so modified as to enable an officer to employ a soldier as servant, without compelling him to violate the law or disobey existing orders. When servants cannot be had at reasonable rates of wages, an officer should be permitted to employ an enlisted man to wait upon him. No soldier should be required to act as servant to an officer except by the soldier's voluntary assent; he should be thoroughly instructed in his military duties before being so detailed; he should be regularly detailed for the duty in post orders; he should be so reported on the morning and monthly reports and muster-roll of his company; he should be required

to keep his arms, &c., in good condition, and to attend all musters and inspections of his company. Further, the amount of the pay proper of the soldier should be dropped from the officer's pay account and be taken up and accounted for by the paymaster; and, in addition, the officer should be required to pay a fixed sum per month to the soldier. Section 1232 of the Revised Statutes provides that "no officer shall use an enlisted man as a servant in any case whatever," and I am confident that a modification of this law, as above recommended, would prove beneficial to the service, and be satisfactory to officer and enlisted man. No officer of the Army wishes to violate the law in this regard, but in many sections of our country it is absolutely unavoidable.

I would respectfully ask, as has been frequently done by my predecessor, General Marcy, in his annual reports, that the Inspector-General's Department be placed on an equal footing with the other staff departments as regards clerical assistance. All other branches of the staff are provided with clerks, but for the officers of this department, with the exception of the senior here at the War Department, no provision is made.

The officers of this department are gentlemen of rank and of many years' service, and their status should not be that of beggars. Now, if an officer has more work or writing than he can possibly master, he must go (no matter how humiliating) to some other department, and borrow a clerk, if he can. There is much work that an officer of long service should not be required to do himself. Copying reports of inspections, investigations, keeping up the records of an office, &c., is properly the work of a clerk, and in every inspector's office there is much of this kind of labor to be performed.

I respectfully recommend that in the next annual estimates for the Army an item of $4,800 be embraced therein for the payment of three third-class clerks, for service in the office of inspector-general at the headquarters of the military divisions of the Missouri, Pacific, and Atlantic. I respectfully request a favorable indorsement by the General of the Army to this recommendation.

Inclosed I forward herewith copies of the annual reports of the different inspecting officers, so far as they have been received. Respectfully submitted.

D. B. SACKET,

Brigadier and Inspector General, U. S. A.

The ADJUTANT-GENERAL UNITED STATES ARMY.

3.-REPORT OF LIEUTENANT-GENERAL SHERIDAN.

HEADQUARTERS MILITARY DIVISION OF THE MISSOURI,

Chicago, Ill., October 22, 1881.

GENERAL: I have the honor to submit herewith, for the information of the General of the Army, the following report, covering the operations within the limits of my command, accompanied by the reports of the department commanders:

Since my last annual report, dated October 22, 1880, no permanent change has been made in the organization of the division, which consists of the Department of Dakota, commanded by Brig. Gen. A. H. Terry, comprising the State of Minnesota and Territories of Dakota and

Montana, garrisoned by twenty permanent posts, one cantonment where the Northern Pacific Railroad crosses the Little Missouri River, a camp at Poplar River Agency, Montana, and one small summer camp; the Department of the Platte, commanded by Brig. Gen. George Crook, comprising the States of Iowa and Nebraska, the Territories of Wyoming and Utah, and a portion of Idaho, containing seventeen permanent posts, including the post of Fort Thornburgh (just located but not constructed), near the junction of the Duchesne and Green rivers in Utah; the Department of the Missouri, commanded by Brig. Gen. John Pope, comprising the States of Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, and Colorado, the Indian Territory, and the Territory of New Mexico, and two posts in Texas, garrisoned by twenty-two permanent posts, with camps at White River, and the Uncompalgre River in Colorado, and at Snake River in Wyoming, also a camp at old Fort Cummings, and a temporary camp at Ojo Caliente, New Mexico; the Department of Texas, commanded by Brig. Gen. C. C. Augur, comprising the State of Texas, garrisoned by ten permanent posts and twelve camps and subposts along the southwestern frontier.

The Department of Texas and the Indian Territory were taken from the division december 18, 1880, on the organization of the Division of the Gulf, and the post of Fort Elliott, Texas, on February 4, 1881; but were restored to the division on May 6, 1881, when the Division of the Gulf was abolished.

To garrison these posts and furnish troops for active operations in the field, there are in this division eight regiments of cavalry, twenty regi ments of infantry, twelve companies of which are mounted, and one battery of artillery, aggregating 14,076 officers and men, distributed as follows:

Department of Dakota, two regiments of cavalry, 1,505; one regiment of infantry, mounted, 435; six regiments of infantry, 2,548; total, 4,488. Department of the Platte, two regiments of cavalry, 1,252; three regiments of infantry, 1,160; total, 2,412. Department of the Missouri, two regiments of cavalry, 1,430; six regiments of infantry, two companies of which are mounted, 2,543; total, 3,973. Department of Texas, two regiments of cavalry, 1,440; one battery of artillery, 38; four regiments of infantry, 1,725; total, 3,203.

Although the Department of Dakota has, by far, the largest number of Indians from whom hostile acts might be expected, these have been at peace during the past year, and seem to have made some advancement in labor and in the cultivation of the soil, at the different agencies. The exceedingly annoying condition of having a small body of our hostile Indians, with Sitting Bull, just across the boundary line, in British Columbia, has been removed by the surrender of this head man. Nearly all of the Indians who clustered around him have come over, either with him or in advance of him, and have submitted to the authority of the government. So long as this body of Indians remained across the line, they formed a nucleus with whom all dissatisfied or disaffected ones, at the agencies, could take refuge. For this reason I supported General Terry in his efforts to get Sitting Bull back, and I think the results will be satisfactory. Although Sitting Bull was not much of a warrior, and had no prestige among Indians on that account, still he was stubborn in his resistance to the government reservation system, and naturally had many adherents among the disaffected. His original offense was his refusal to go to the reservation of his tribe, the Uncapapas, at Standing Rock; he wanted to live wild. He was not a chief in that tribe, but was the leader of a small band of about sixty lodges, who held

with him the same feelings of bitter opposition towards being civilized. He was in the outskirts of the fight with Custer, but not conspicuous, and shortly afterwards struck out, with his small band, for British Columbia, being subsequently followed, from necessity, by other bands of Sioux. I have seen in newspapers long accounts and narratives purporting to be descriptions of the Custer battle, as related by Sitting Bull, which had, in my opinion, but little truth in them, and historians are cautioned against receiving them as correct. The Northern Cheyennes and the Ogallala Sioux, the former under two or three of their principal chiefs, and the latter under Crazy Horse, as their leaders, did the fighting at the battle of the Little Horn when Custer fell.

With the exception of the incursions of Indians and half-breeds belonging to British Columbia, and their passing through the cattle herds of Montana to kill buffalo south of the Missouri River, the condition of Indian affairs in the Department of Dakota has been favorable during the past year. The eastern frontier settlements are rapidly passing westward, and a year or two will carry them forward until they meet the frontier of Montana, which is advancing in this direction. The Northern Pacific Railroad will be at Fort Keogh in November, and will open up fine grazing and agricultural lands lying on the Yellowstone and between it and the Big Horn Mountains, from which section the road will undoubtedly reap a rich reward. To General Terry, for his good management, and to the troops who so faithfully served in the field during the bitter weather of last winter in collecting and bringing in bands of hostile Sioux who had surrendered, I return my sincere thanks. In this connection, the services of Maj. Guido Ilges, Fifth Infantry, and his command, are especially deserving of commendation.

In the Department of the Platte no event of military importance has occurred. The posts of Sheridan and Hartsuff have been abandoned, having fulfilled the purposes for which they were established. The post of Fort Niobrara has been completed and a new post has been located upon the new Ute Reservation, at the junction of the Duchesne and Green Rivers, in Utah. Although they have had plenty of time, the Uncompahgre Utes, who were to move to this vicinity from the Department of the Missouri, have not yet arrived at the new agency appointed for them, on the east side of Green River, not far distant from the new post above mentioned; nor have the White River Utes yet reached the Uintah Reservation, the place the commissioners have selected for them as their fu are home. Hopes are, however, entertained that, before the first of of the new year, both the Uncompahgre and the White River Utes will reach their respective destinations without serious trouble. Still, some fears are entertained that they may not go there, and this impression has so firmly settled itself in the mind of the commission, that, at the request of Commissioner Russell, the General of the Army has directed that the White River Utes be driven to the Uintah agency. I am afraid, however, that but little can be done towards carrying out this order before spring, and will hope that better results will have obtained before that time. No one can form any idea, excepting by personal examination, of the rough and broken country of the Gunnison and White Rivers—the old home of the White River Utes-and I shall hope for a peaceful solution and settlement of this complication without necessity for military operations.

The cattle, mining, and agricultural interests have greatly increased in this department, especially in the Territories of Utah and Wyoming, and in that part of Idaho belonging to it. Along the base of the Big Horn Mountains, especially west of Fort McKinney, beautiful farms

have sprung up; fields of wheat, oats, and barley, and hundreds of thousands of cattle, are now to be found where only two or three years ago was the land of the Indians and the buffalo.

The department has been economically administrated and the condition of the service improved. At its ensuing session Congress will be requested to make an appropriation for the new post at the junction of the Duchesne and Green Rivers, in Utah, on the reservation selected for the future home of the Uncompahgre Utes.

In the Department of the Missouri small raiding parties of Apache Indians, the remnant of Victoria's band, joined by a few young men from the Mescalero Reservation, in all not to exceed sixty in number, caused widespread alarm and serious loss of human life in Southern New Mexico last winter. The band came in from Mexico, south of Fort Cummings, and after making a raid of extraordinary boldness, recrossed into Mexico near their point of entrance. They killed a number of people, and, I am sorry to say, received but little punishment in return. This same band re-entered Southern New Mexico in July, and raided the same region of country, killing Lieut. G. W. Smith, Ninth Cavalry, and several people, and again escaping into Mexico without serious loss, so far as I have been able to learn from any official data received at these headquarters. I would advise that, if possible, the consent of the Mexican Government be obtained for our troops to cross and catch this small band of freebooters, or at least to break down the confidence with which the boundary line inspires them in their ability to escape punishment.

As previously stated, the Uncompahgre Utes have moved from the Uncompahgre Valley, in this department, for their new reservation and agency, near the junction of the Green and White Rivers, Utah, in the Department of the Platte. They would not have moved at all but for the presence of General Mackenzie and his command in the Uncompahgre Valley. About the same time the White River Utes also started from the White River Valley, near the scene of the Thornburg fight, to go to their new place in the Department of the Platte-the Uintah Reservation in Utah-but, as already mentioned, neither these nor the Uncompahgres have as yet arrived at their newly selected agencies.

Little Chief's band of Northern Cheyennes, in the Indian Territory, which gave some anxiety for a year or two past, has at last been sent back to their friends in the north, the Sioux. Little Chief's band was sent to Indian Territory originally because Congress had made provision for the Northern Cheyennes, by appropriation, with their kinsfolk, the Southern Cheyennes. The bands of Little Wolf, Dull Knife, and other chiefs went to the Indian Territory, seemingly satisfied with this arrangement, and were subsequently followed there by Little Chief. Congress had made appropriations for their support with the Southern Cheyennes; their reservation or lands were there; this they seemed to comprehend, but the misfortune was that a large number of the tribe were permitted to stay in the Sioux country, in the north-their natural homeand those so left there included many of the relatives of the bands of Little Chief, Little Wolf, and Dull Knife. This separation of families and friends, and the homesickness which Indians feel far more keenly than any other people, produced discontentment, and the escape from the Indian Territory of Little Wolf and Dull Knife, with their bands, was the well-known result. Then, after the eventual capture and surrender in the north of what remained of these escaped bands, they were not sent back to the Indian Territory, but were permitted to live in the north. This made a still greater separation of relatives and friends, so