502
WRITINGS OF SAM HOUSTON, 1858
have never cast any reflections on the dragoons. I have not said that they were not perfectly efficient. The only allusion I made to them was to the drill that was practiced in Texas; but those men may have all broken their necks in falling off their horses. [Laughter.] I said the dragoons were the only description of troops that ought to be employed on the frontier, except to main- tain stations to protect trading houses with the Indians. We find that those men who have achieved so much in Texas surprised three different parties of Indians. I have no doubt of it. I have known parties of Indians surprised in Texas-some that were coming in to hold a treaty in a very friendly way, yet were set upon and murdered, and our citizens' lives paid the penalty for it. I think the Senator read two or three instances where some horses that had been stolen were reclaimed. I am glad of it. That shows an efficient description of service, that I approve and admire. In another instance which he cited, the dragoons attacked the lndians, whose warriors came out to fight them. He does not say whether the women and children did not incumber the warriors; he does not say that they were not hunting on a peaceful party; but the dragoons attacked them, and the women and children of course took to the chaparral. The troops to be employed on the frontier ought not only to understand the topography of the country, but they should be familiar with the character of the Indians; they ought to know whether they are for peace or for war before they treat them as belligerents. As to the achievements of which the honorable Senator spoke, in New Mexico, they may be all right officially; but what he read stated that the troops had traveled eighty miles a day over rough mountains. To me that is rather a fishy story. [Laughter.] If it were printed twenty times, I could not think it. I have crossed mountains myself which were tolerably smooth, and I never could go eighty miles a day. There must be a mistake in that part of it; and if part of it is a mistake, I do not see why the whole of it may not be. The Senator ga~e us a very handsome, tasteful, and elegant sketch of the feelings that the youths who enter the Military Academy must have; and I presume they must imbue the whole military force. He says young men go there from whom no danger can be apprehended, and that they will never conspire against their country, but will strike down the tyrant or usurper. Sir I see a difficulty and a misfortune attending this military training in early life, and I cannot come to any other conclusion
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