Which U.S. Army Officer Had The Worst Attitude Toward Indians?

Which U.S. Army officer had the worst attitude toward Indians?

Paul Gordon
St. Thomas, Ontario, Canada

Probably Gen. Philip Sheridan. He initiated the strategy of launching brutal winter campaigns that attacked Indian villages and destroyed their livestock and supplies. He justified this by declaring, “… if a village is attacked and women and children killed, the responsibility is not with the soldiers but with the people whose crimes necessitated the attack.”

Sheridan became notorious for declaring that the only good Indians he ever saw were dead, but he denied saying it.

Marshall Trimble is Arizona’s official historian and vice president of the Wild West History Association. . His latest book is Arizona’s Outlaws and Lawmen; History Press, 2015. If you have a question, write:  Ask the Marshall, P.O. Box 8008, Cave Creek, AZ 85327 or e-mail him at  marshall.trimble@scottsdalecc.edu