THE INDIAN ELEMENT IN THE AMERICAN WAR. THE Confederated States
of America have called on the Indian tribes to aid them in their strife with the North, and several Companies have been enrolled at Montgomery and New Orleans. The fact seems to English imaginations to impart a new element of horror into the contest, and it may be worth while to examine the extent of, the assistance brought by these novel allies. A. notion prevails, we believe, in England, that the Indians are all of one mind and located in one place—an idea widely at variance with the facts. The tribes left in the States, who have declined in strength, but whose original number has always been greatly exaggerated, may be divided into three classes : the small and almost extinct tribes lingering in the seaboard States ; the nomadic tribes of Texas and the base of the Rocky Mountains; and the larger class of civilized or half-civilized tribes who have been transplanted from the valley of the Mississippi to Kansas and the Indian territory proper. With the first class the Federal Government has no relations whatever; they are cared for and governed by the States within whose boundaries they reside..
They do not in New England exceed two thousand, and though the remnants of the Six Nations still dwell in Western New York, they have adopted the white man's dress and most of his civilization, and may be considered absorbed for social purposes into the race which has supplanted them. Owing apparently to some remnant of pre-
judice, these people, though often as intelligent and well cultivated as their neighbours, have never been admitted to citizenship, and will therefore take no part in a fray in the result of which they can have little or no interest. They are understood, however, to be free- soilers in sentiment. The Indians of the old States of the South are not, however, so passive. They are dependent upon the State . Government for subsistence, and have almost to a man rallied to the support of the Southern Confederacy.
The second class, the wild and nomadic tribes, who are almost or quite independent, will take no part in the contest. They are too
far from the scene to be allured as allies, even if they were inclined to let themselves out; and they know little or care less about the original cause of quarrel. It is to the conduct of the third class, the transplanted Indians, who have been settled beyond the Missis- sippi, that interest principally belongs. They are subjects of the Federal and not of the State Governments, and are numerous enough to make their alliance a matter of real importance. It has been the policy of the Federal Government, for many years past, to extinguish all Indian titles east of the Mississippi l and deposit them close to each other on a great territory set apart for their exclusive behoof. The removal, sometimes rather tyrannical, was usually effected in peace, and most of the tribes transplanted have adopted civilization. 'fhe northern portion of their territory., however, was recently opened to settlement; and under the name of Kansa; became the first ground on which the advocates and opponents of slavery appealed to arms. The tribes who thus suddenly found themselves surrounded by settlers of opposing opinions were generally prevailed on to espouse one or the other side, and went almost to a man with their interests. No idea of the value of freedom as such seems ever to have entered their heads. The Delawares, Fenimore Cooper's heroes, the Wyandottes, and one or two other opulent tribes, who own slaves themselves, favoured the "border ruffians," the emigrants from Missouri, who at first controlled the elections. The great majority of the tribes, how- ever, the Pawnees, Omahas, Miamis, and Winnebagos, though equally civilized, own no slaves, and sympathized warmly with the settlers. Since Kansas has been admitted into the Union, they have been treated with very unusual justice, have been admitted to the full rights of citizenship, and will furnish their quota to the Federal Army, not as Pawnees or Omahas, but as citizens of Kansas. They bring, however, no exceptional strength; and their regular contingent will be too small to admit of exceptional modes of warfare. South of Kansas reside the strongest of all the tribes, the Indians removed from Florida, Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi. Most of them, as the Choctaws, Cherokees, Creeks, and Semmoles, form civilized nations, have printing-presses and a literature of their own, have a separate and republican form of Government, elect their own officers by ballot, and support a common school system by taxes imposed by themselves (with some slight aid from the Federal authority). They are, however, deeply committed to slavery. They own numerous slaves, and are to all outward appearance as much attached to the peculiar institution as their immediate neighbours of the State of Arkansas. Under ordinary circumstances, therefore, there can be no doubt that they would range themselves actively on the side of the Confederacy, and acting en mane they would bring to their allies the aid of a body of light infantry of no contemptible value. The Federal Government, has, however, a somewhat singular hold over the mass of these tribes. Their lands in Georgia, Alabama, and Florida were not purchased by the States but by the Federal Government, which still retains the money—many millions of dollars—and pays only the interest to the Indians. Should they act as a body against the Government, the Secretary to the Treasury would annex those funds without scruple, and the tribes, afraid of losing their slaves, are still more afraid of losing their incomes. They consequently, as tribes, still waver, and only a portion of their "young men" have as yet sought the scene of action. These have been eagerly welcomed at New Orleans and Montgomery, where they have been formed into regiments dressed in fantastic uniforms. The South, however, will hardly place them in front of the conflict, and it seems to be understood that they will compel them to observe the ordinary rules of war, at least as war is understood in a country where it seems to be considered chivalrous to shoot sentries and isolated officers driving quietly on the road. The Indians are not well pleased with the restrictions under which they are placed, but they make none the less most excellent hostages for a territory of great importance to the ultimate purposes of the South. The road to the new regions which the South hopes one day to occupy lies through this very Indian territory. On the whole, what with the new civilization of the tribes, the influence of the Federal Government, and the inclination of the South to keep their Indians well in hand, the introduction of Indians scarcely means what it meant in the last war. They can bring little useful assistance to the rebels, and there is reason to hope the world will be spared the repetition of at least this one form of horror. The attendant circumstances of this civil war are bad enough in all con- science without the importation of savages to set at defiance all rules, and compel the victims to introduce the law, long banished from civilized strife, of blood for blood.
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