n 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? They were men of intelligence
and adroitness in regard to the Indian character and Indian warfare.

Do you think a man 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? Not at all, sir.

We wish, in the first place, to have men suited to the circumstances.
Give us agents who are capable of following out their instructions,
and who understand the Indian character. Give us an army, gentlemen,
who understand not only the science of command, but have some notions
of extending justice and protection to the Indian, against the
aggression of the whites, while they protect the whites against the
aggressions from the Indians. Then, and not till then, will you have
peace.

How is this to be done? Withdraw your army. Have five hundred
cavalry, if you will; but I would rather have two hundred and fifty
Texas rangers (such as I could raise), than five hundred of the best
cavalry now in the service. . . . . . Cultivate intercourse with the
Indians. Show them that you have comforts to exchange for their
peltries; bring them around you; domesticate them; familiarize them
with civilization. Let them see that you are rational beings, and they
will become rational in imitation of you; but take no whiskey there at
all, not even for the officers, for fear their generosity would let it
out. . . . . . I would have fields around the trading houses. I would
encourage the Indians to cultivate them. Let them see how much it adds
to their comfort, how it insures to their wives and children abundant
subsistence; and then you win t