GEORGE CROOK, THE SOLDIER FRIEND

OF THE INDIAN

Of the men who have taken part in settling the Indian question none ranks higher than General Crook, who was sent against them as a soldier and fought them when he was forced to, but by his good sense, justice and discretion did more to make good citizens of them than could ever have been done by the rifle and the sword. The policy in dealing with the savages, especially with the fierce Apaches, had been one of destruction. Crook's method made quiet farmers of tribes which had previously given their time to murder and outrage. It is his story as an Indian fighter that we propose to tell, but in earlier years he had taken an active part in the Civil War, and his record in this must first be given.

George Crook was born near Dayton, Ohio, September 8, 1828, and after spending his boyhood and youth at home, was entered as a cadet in the Military Academy at West Point, where he graduated in 1852, in his twenty-fourth year. His first active service was as brevet second lieutenant in the fourth infantry regiment, with which he was sent to California, and served the Government there until 1861. He was not without war experience during these years, being in the Pitt River expedition of 1852, in which he took part in several fights with the Indians, and was seriously wounded by an arrow in one of these engagements.

He was promoted first lieutenant in 1860, and when the war between North and South began was called to

Washington and made colonel of the 36th Ohio regiment of volunteers. His first service was under McClellan in Western Virginia, where he was wounded in a fight at Lewinsburg, but he was in condition in 1862 to take part in the battle of Antietam, and with such gallantry that he was rewarded with the rank of brevet lieutenant-colonel in the regular army.

His most conspicuous service in the war was as a cavalry commander, he being placed in command in 1863 of the second cavalry division of the army of the Cumberland, with which he took an active part in the battle of Chickamauga. Shortly afterwards he was sent with a cavalry force two thousand strong to protect Rosecrans's line of communications, and in this duty came into conflict with General Wheeler, the noted Confederate hard rider, who was on a raid in Tennessee and had taken and burned a large convoy of supply wagons at McMinnville.

Crook overtook his rear-guard as he was fleeing towards Murfreesboro, Colonel Long, of the second Kentucky cavalry, charging the Confederate raiders with great spirit. Wheeler's men dismounted and fought till dark, when they sprang to the saddle again and rode at full speed for Murfreesboro. The daring Confederate hoped to seize that important place with its munitions and supplies, but Crook was too hot upon his trail and he was obliged to take to the road again. The chase went on relentlessly, Wheeler doing what damage he could in his flight, until Duck River was crossed and Farmington reached, when Crook struck him again.

His onset here was irresistible. Wheeler's line was cut in two, four of his guns and a thousand small arms were taken, two hundred of his men captured, and his

forces driven in confusion in the direction of Pulaski, which his flying columns reached that night, much the worse for wear. He had had quite enough of Crook as an antagonist, and hastened to get on the safe side of the Tennessee and make his way back to Bragg's army, having done immense damage in his raid.

In 1864 Crook was put in command of the eighth corps, known as the Army of West Virginia, and was given control of the military district of that State, where he won the battle of Cloyd's Mountain. At a later date he joined Sheridan's army in the Shenandoah Valley, and his corps bore the brunt of Early's furious charge at Cedar Creek.

Crook's division held the advanced position on that field, the remaining divisions of the army being in flank and rear. Sheridan had been absent on business at Washington and was on his return to Winchester, not dreaming of a disaster to his army. At two o'clock in the morning of October 19 reports came to General Crook of mysterious sounds from the front, like the dull tramp of a multitude moving cautiously, but he could learn nothing to prove that an enemy was near at hand, and the alarm died away. The rest of the army slept on undisturbed. The fact was that Early's whole army had crept stealthily upon them under cover of the night, while a dense fog which rose before dawn concealed the troops as they marched noiselessly to their appointed positions.

Morning had just dawned when a ringing battleshout rent the air, the rattle of musketry was heard in all directions, and before the Nationals could seize their arms and fall into line Early's entire force broke from the mist and fell suddenly upon them. Crook's corps bore the first shock of this unlooked-for attack,

being struck with such fury that in fifteen minutes it was broken into fragments, the men flying in wild disorder back upon the other corps, leaving seven hundred prisoners and other spoil in the hands of the assailants. Crook vainly endeavored to stop the panic flight of his men, Emory, who lay behind him, was similarly broken, and the right of Sheridan's army was fearfully pressed at all points. Foreseeing an utter rout of the whole army, General Wright, in command in Sheridan's absence, ordered a general retreat, the sixth corps, the only one left in good order, skilfully covering it. All readers of history are aware of the sequel of this story, the coming of Sheridan to Winchester, his swinging ride to the battle-field, the reforming of the lines under the inspiration of his presence, and the turning of defeat into victory, the triumphant Confederates being driven back in disorder and losing more than they had gained.

Crook was honored with the brevet ranks of brigadier-general and major-general in March, 1865, and was a cavalry commander in Sheridan's corps in April, directing the operations at Dinwiddie Court-House on the Ist, and taking an active part in the pursuit of Lee's army. Attacking a wagon train escorted by a formidable cavalry force near Jetersville, his force was repulsed; but he rode to the support of Custer at Sailor's Creek, pierced the Confederate line at that point, and captured four hundred wagons, sixteen guns, and a large number of men. At Farmville he forded the Appomattox and attacked a body of infantry guarding a train. Here he was repulsed, and General Gregg, commanding a brigade, was captured. This was almost the last hostile demonstration of Lee's army and Gregg was their last prisoner, for two days

later Lee with his whole army surrendered to General Grant.

Such was George Crook's career as a soldier in the Civil War. A longer and more diversified one followed, for during the succeeding twenty-five years he was actively occupied in Indian warfare, or in the more creditable occupation of bringing the Indians into ways of peace. It was in the latter employment that General Crook made himself famous. As a skilled, daring and successful Indian fighter no man has surpassed him; as a true friend of the Indians no other man in the American army has equalled him.

The story of his Indian experience is one of great interest. In July, 1866, he was made lieutenant-colonel of the Twenty-third Infantry, and for the following six years was occupied against the hostile tribes in Idaho. In 1872 he was sent to Arizona to operate against the Apaches, the fiercest and wildest of all the tribes. The policy of the Government against these Indians had been one of the rifle and the sabre. But the Apaches, sons of the mountain and the desert, proved hard either to kill or to conquer, and the Government spent more than three million dollars in vain attempts to subdue them. At the end of it all they were still on the war-path and the country round their haunts was kept in a constant reign of terror.

Crook knew the Indians and their ways and how to deal with them. The stronghold of the warring tribes was the Tonto Basin, a wild and desolate region in the midst of three separate ranges of arid mountains. Crook began by offering them peace and protection, if they would submit, with the threat that if they did not accept they would be " wiped off the face of the earth." Confident in the strength of their position, the Indians