the public safety required that they should be removed far from the scene of their depredations and guarded with the strictest vigilance. The remainder of the band captured at the same time, consisting of eleven women, six children, and two enlisted scouts, were ordered to be sent from San Antonio to Fort Marion, Florida, and to be placed with the other Apaches under custody at that post. Geronimo and the adult members of his band arrived at Fort Pickens on October 25, and on the same date the women and children, and the two enlisted scouts reached Fort Marion.

On the 20th of October General Miles advised the Department that a small party of Apache Indians, who had separated from Geronimo and his band in August, 1885, and consisting of Mangus, two men, and eight women and children, had arrived at Fort Apache, having been captured by a detachment under Captain Cooper, Tenth Cavalry. Under orders issued October 26, Mangus and the two adults were sent from Fort Apache October 30 for confinement at Fort Pickens, Florida, at which place Mangus and one of the men arrived on the 6th of November, the other having died on the way. The eight women and children were sent to Fort Marion at the same time.

It is proper also to state the circumstances which led to the removal to Fort Marion of the Warm Spring and Chiricahua Indians on the Fort Apache Reservation.

On the 4th of July General Miles telegraphed that there were strong military reasons for allowing a delegation of the Apaches from the Fort Apache Reservation to visit Washington in regard to their removal from Arizona. Upon consultation with the President and the Secretary of the Interior it was decided that they could come, and they at once started, under charge of Captain Dorst, Fourth Cavalry. This permission was granted upon the supposition that they desired a change of abode, or could be induced to change without coercion, and the only question to be determined here would be where they should go.

Later, by telegram and letter received after the delegation was on its way, General Miles urged that the Apaches on the Fort Apache Reservation, numbering about five hundred, be sent to the Indian Territory, and that the existing laws should be so changed that this disposition of them could legally be made. This proposal was considered for many reasons entirely impracticable, and General Miles was so informed on July 15, and that military movements must proceed in view of the present arrangements in regard to these Indians. The law was against it, and the Executive would not be justified in requesting a change. To place this lawless and dangerous tribe among the peaceful Indians of that Territory would have been a breach of good faith and treaty obligations. But the same proposal was again renewed by him on the 20th as the solution of the whole difficulty, and he requested that the delegation be allowed to visit and see certain points in the Indian Territory.

In the meantime the whole matter of the removal of the tribe to the Indian Territory or to any other place voluntarily was settled by the demands and expressions of opinion made by the Indians then in Washington. Their sole desire was to remain where they were; that apparently was the object they had in view in coming, and the assurance of the authorities here that they should not be removed was very earnestly pressed. In their interviews with the President, the Secretary of War, or the Secretary of the Interior they expressed no desire or willingness to go elsewhere. No assurance was given them in any form of words that they should remain at Fort Apache. The confer ences granted them were solely to hear their complaints and their requests. Information came from the officer in charge of them that they were restless and uneasy, dissatisfied with their reception and the failure to receive any assurance that they could remain at Fort Apache. In this condition of affairs the Lieutenant-General, in an indorsement to the Secretary of War dated July 30, 1886, remarked:

There are now on the reservation near Fort Apache seventy-one Chiricahua and Warm Spring adult male Indians. These are exclusive of those in this city. It is my belief that if the delegation which is now here goes back to the reservation without having received what they deem a most satisfactory promise on the part of the Government, a large number of those that are now peaceable will endeavor to join Geronimo. I therefore recommend that authority be granted me to direct General Miles to arrest all the male Indians now on the reservation near Fort Apache, and send them as prisoners to Fort Marion, Florida; that the delegation now here be sent there also, and that they be held at that point as prisoners of war until the solution of the Geronimo troubles.

This recommendation was approved so far as the removal of the Apaches on the Fort Apache Reservation was concerned, provided they could all be successfully secured by the troops; and the President directed inquiries to be made of General Miles for his opinion in regard to their forcible arrest. General Miles replied, objecting to such removal, and by letter gave his objections in detail. But, on August 20, he informed the Department that Colonel Wade, commanding at Fort Apache, was of opinion that the Indians there could be secured and moved with out difficulty. Orders thereupon issued that they should be taken and sent to Fort Marion, which were carried out on the 7th of September, and they were conveyed to that fort, where they arrived on September 20, and where they are now confined.

In the matter of the Lieutenant-General's recommendation that the delegation of Apaches in Washington should also be sent to Fort Marion, it was thought that these Indians should first be returned to Arizona, which was the understanding upon which they came here. After their return they could be treated as the rest of their tribe and taken to Fort Marion. But it was of the first importance that they should not confer with their brethren on the reservation until after the latter had been secured by the troops and were in custody for removal. This delegation contained some of the most dangerous of the Chiricahuas.

With this intention on the part of the Government they started for Arizona with Captain Dorst, visiting on their way the Indian school at Carlisle. They were stopped on their journey after leaving Carlisle and sent back to Fort Leavenworth. While they were there the Indians who were to be sent from the Fort Apache Reservation to Florida were secured and started on the way. It was thought best by the Lieutenant-General that the Indians at Fort Leavenworth, who had become turbulent and excited, should be sent direct from there to Fort Marion, and orders were issued to that effect, as it was not considered practicable for any of them to meet the other band on their journey east, as had been proposed. Captain Dorst and these Indians, thirteen in number, together with three interpreters, left Fort Leavenworth on the 13th of September, and on the 20th the Department was advised of their arrival at Fort Marion. A summarized statement of all the Indian prisoners now at Fort Marion and Fort Pickens will be found in the appendix.

It is hoped that the Apache wars and raids that have devastated Arizona and New Mexico, and the adjacent States of Mexico, for so many years, are ended by the permanent removal of the fiercest and most dangerous of the Apache tribes.

The Lieutenant-General states that many officers are becoming disabled by reason of long service on the frontier and from wounds received or disease contracted during the war of the rebellion. He is of opinion that while those who are disabled are transferred to the retired list as fast as possible it would be a great benefit to the Army if Congress would increase the list and include upon it all officers found by duly constituted boards to be permanently incapacitated for active service. In this belief I concur, and I recommend such action by Congress. I also concur in the opinion expressed by the Lieutenant General that if the Army were increased five thousand men, and two companies were added to each of the infantry regiments, the Army would be enabled to creditably perform such service as the country might demand.

The reports of the commanding officers of the Artillery School and of the Infantry and Cavalry School are very satisfactory, and show that a high standard of military education has been established, which promises to lead to the best results. The instruction of the Army in the use of the rifle or carbine has been thoroughly prosecuted during the year; the returns from each department and the results of the regular competitions exhibit a decided advance in rifle firing. As the importance of company practice in skirmish firing is better recognized, it is believed that in the near future many of the soldiers will become expert skir mishers, and the effective fire of the mass of the Army will be greatly improved.

The discipline of the Army is reported to be good, and the efficiency of the various arms of the service well maintained. It has but little opportunity for active service, and what it has is not of the most agreeable or inspiring kind. The control and pursuit of Indians, difficult

and hazardous as it often is, and developing as it does the individual character and gallantry of officers and men, is yet war on a very lim ited scale, and bears but slight resemblance to the great contests which follow the collision between nations. In any war with a foreign power our regular forces would be the nucleus of the great muster of volunteers, which experience has taught us must be the natural resource in times of danger, and the discipline, guidance, and command of which must fall mainly upon the officers of the Regular Army.

The efficiency, therefore, of our small force should be at the highest point, and the officers should be instructed, competent, and accomplished in all knowledge that pertains to the art of war and the duties of the soldier. Without great additional expense it should be and can be made a model army, for it has the material in its officers and men to take this position. It should be borne in mind in this connection that it has been and still is the policy of the Government to rear and train at West Point young men from all portions of the Republic to be soldiers. No expense is spared to give them the best military education possible. Only those who succeed in passing the tests of rigid examinations are selected for the public service. So severe is the ordeal through which they pass that but one in three succeeds in graduating. Nor is expense spared in providing for these young men thus educated when they take their places in the Army, for the pay of our officers is higher through all its grades than that of any other army save the Anglo-Indian army. And yet, after thus preparing and providing for them, there are no special requirements, common to all, demanding their progress and growth in the profession of arms; and no inquiry is made, or examination had, as the years go by, and they advance grade after grade, whether as individuals they are worthy of promotion, and are equal to the higher rank and larger responsibilities they are forced to assume. When a second lieutenant enters the service, whether from civil life, the ranks of the Army, or from the Military Academy at West Point, the rigid examination above alluded to is made the necessary condition for the commission. But this once passed, under present regulations, the officer can, and but too frequently does, close his books and his studies; and if he does not overwork or expose himself, he knows that, with good health and life, he is certain, under the operation of compulsory retirement, to reach the highest grade open to seniority in his arm of the service.

I assume it to be true in the Army, as elsewhere, that no man should occupy a position for which he is not fitted; and it is equally true that there should be some way in the Army, as elsewhere, through which such fitness should be ascertained. It may also be assumed that no men are so well fitted to determine the capacity or incapacity of a candidate for a place as those who have already filled the place and are familiar with its requirements and its duties. It would seem, therefore, that no objection can reasonably be urged against an examination

as a condition of promotion, the same to be conducted by officers of higher grade. This should not be a competitive examination, but simply such an examination as would demonstrate the fitness of a candidate for promotion properly to perform the duties of the grade to which he aspires. It should be a professional examination, having reference to the mental, moral, and physical fitness of the candidate. Its object is plain-the advancement and elevation of the service. Surely there can be no reasonable objection to this test on the part of those who will be subjected to it.

Examination as a means of ascertaining fitness for promotion is no longer an experiment in the Army. It has been in operation in the Medical Corps since 1834, when an act was passed requiring examination to precede admission to the corps as first lieutenant, and another examination must be passed before promotion to the rank of major. 4 Stat., 714. In 1863, examination was required as a necessary preliminary to promotion up to the grade of field officer in both the Engineer and Ordnance Corps. This still continues in force in the Engineer Corps. 12 Stat., 743. In 1874 an act was passed with regard to the Ordnance Corps, providing that no appointment or promotion therein should be made until the officer so appointed or promoted should have passed a satisfactory examination before a board of ordnance officers senior to himself. 18 Stat., 245. In all these corps the result has been so satisfactory that its propriety and necessity are no longer questioned, and no one would think of returning to the earlier system. While the nature of the examination for the line of the Army and for the staff would differ materially, there would seem to be every reason to believe that it would be equally for the advantage of each. It should, therefore, be extended to the line of the Army, and no distinction made between different arms of the same service; thereby implying that an examination was needed for one class not demanded for the other. The neces sity for such examination has already been demonstrated in two of the staff corps by the failure of officers to pass their examinations, and their consequent suspension from promotion; while the rule of promotion by seniority, unqualified by any examination as to fitness, frequently allows the promotion, in the line of the Army, of men incompetent and unfit for service.

Soldiers are developed and matured rapidly on the battle-field, but in time of peace it is only by study and application, by practical experiment, by exercise in the use of weapons, and by keeping fully abreast of the world's knowledge, that the soldier can be made ready for his real work, when it comes. If he gets his promotion and his pay, and his rank and authority through lapse of time, and a perfunctory routine pêrformance of his daily duty without offense, why should he jabor and strive for a higher excellence? If he is of better and truer mettle than to be content and indifferent, and does strive and labor and earn, he gets no more than he who is idle and waits. It is the pre