Page:Life and Select Literary Remains of Sam Houston of Texas (1884).djvu/449

 the hands of his enemy; so he took his knife and stabbed his squaw and little one to the heart. Not a groan was heard, for he well knew where to apply the poignard. He went and shot down the sentinel, rushed upon the superior officers, was shot, and perished like a warrior, in an attempt to wipe a stain from his honor. His men fled and returned to their tribe, but it was to bring blood, carnage, and conflagration upon our settlements. They came not again as brothers to smoke the calumet of peace, but with brands in their hands to set fire to our houses. Contrast that with the previous years; contrast it with the harmony which had before existed, and you see the lamentable result of sending, as Indian agents and army officers to take charge of the Indians, men who know nothing about the Indian character.

Well, sir, how can Texas expect peace; how can she expect protection to her citizens?' Not from your army. It has never given her protection; it is incompetent to give protection; and it is a reproach to the country. I will not say anything personally unkind of the officers who command, for they are gentlemen; but I say they know nothing about the Indians, and I shall prove it. Texas deserves protection, and she can have it if a rational effort be made to give it to her, but not by your troops. What sort of protection can she expect from hostile Indians, when the commanding officer of that military department, a gallant gentleman, who has borne himself nobly in the heat of battle, skillful in design, bold and gallant in execution, and in all the martial arts replete, but amongst the Indians unskilled. He has issued an order that no Indian should go within twenty miles of a fortress on the frontier of Texas. The Indians think, "Very well, you say the Indians shall not come within twenty miles of your forts, and we say your men shall not come within twenty miles of us, or we will shoot them." That is a pretty good notion for an Indian; it is very natural. The boundary is fixed by the white man, and the Indian lives up to it.

Well, sir, there is a remedy for all this, and it is very easy to apply it; but how are we circumstanced there? Is it supposed by some that we are deriving great aid from the army, and that the greatest portion of the disposable forces of the United States is in Texas, and protecting it.? How can they protect us against the Indians when the cavalry have not horses which can trot faster than active oxen, and the infantry dare not go out in any hostile manner for fear of being shot and scalped! Can they pursue a party who pounce down on a settlement and take property, and reclaim that property? Have they ever done it? Did the old rangers of Texas ever fail to do it, when they were seated on their Texas ponies 1 They were men of intelligence and adroitness in regard to the Indian character, and Indian warfare. Do you think a man is fit for such service who has been educated at West Point Academy, furnished with rich stores of learning; more educated in the science of war than any general who fought through the Revolution, and assisted in achieving our independence? Are you going to take such gentlemen, and suppose that by intuition they will understand the Indian character? Or do you suppose they can track a turkey, or a deer, in the grass of Texas, or could they track an Indian, or would they know whether they were tracking a wagon or a carriage? [Laughter.] Not at all, sir. We wish, in the first place, to have men suited to the circumstances.