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540. 31

SHERIDAN, Lieut. General Sheridan, Chicago, Ills.

General,

                    I have the honor to enclose a copy of a letter from Commanding Officer Fort Sill to Commanding Officer Fort Richardson, concerning threatened depredations by the Kiowa's, from their reservation, near the former post.      The Cavalry from Fort Richardson has been almost constantly employed for the past m onth, in chasing bands of Indian depredators in the Northern counties of Texas.  These bands were reported to come from the reservation, near Fort Sill, and the enclosed letter leaves no doubt, they are Kiowas.  The hundred and twenty animals stolen from the command moving from Capt Supply to Fort Hayes, were also stolen by Kiowas.
       The Commanding Officer Fort Sill has been instructed to make a demand upon the Agent of these Indians for the return of the stolen animals, but we know very well, that this will amount to nothing.  The question then is, what is to be done with these Indians?   The popular panacea of [strike] in cases of hostile Indians - of putting them on a reservation and finding them, is not applicable in this case, as they are, or are supposed to be, already on one, and have been for years, where they are fed and cared for by the Government.  Some other remedy must be prescribed.  The Government has done for these Indians all that it can do in the way of kindness.  It has given them a good reservation, under charge of an honest and faithful agent, and supplied them with food and clothing.  Still they remain the most troublesome Indians, we have.
         The Kiowas have always been regarded - and I believe justly - the meanest and the cruelest Indians on the Plains, and unlike the Cheyennes and many other tribes, are without a single trait or sentiment, that christian or any other ennobling principle can seize upon, to improve or elevate them, and withal, the evil in them is not dormant - but extremely active and troublesome.
          They are in sympathy with the bad Indians in all the adjacent tribes and reservations and keep them in a constant state of excitement.
          My recommendation in their case is, that the whole Kiowa tribe be taken possession of and disarmed, and taken entirely out of the Indian Country, and distributed among the military posts at the North - not breaking up families, and that the Kiowa's, as a tribe, be no longer recognized.  An Individuals, they can be cared for more cheaply and better than on their reservation.