...From the dawn of intelligence his own will is his law.
There is no right and no wrong to him.... No dread of
punishment restrains him from any act that boyish fun or fury may
prompt. No lessons inculcating the beauty and sure reward of
goodness or the hideousness and certain punishment of vice are
ever wasted on him. The men by whom he is surrounded, and to whom
he looks as models for his future life, are great and renowned
just in proportion to their ferocity, to the scalps they have
taken, or the thefts they have committed. His earliest boyish
memory is probably a dance of rejoicing over the scalps of
strangers, all of whom he is taught to regard as enemies. The
lessons of his mother awaken only a desire to take his place as
soon as possible in fight and foray. The instruction of his
father is only such as is calculated to fit him best to act a
prominent part in the chase, in theft, and in murder....
Virtue, morality, generosity, honor, are words not only
absolutely without significance to him, but are not accurately
translatable, into any Indian language on the Plains."
These are sterner, less kindly, less philosophic words than
Marcy's, but they keenly outline the duty of the Army on the
frontier.
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