ence shall be adopted. My own opinion has
been, from the time I first considered the subject, that such a chain of
posts, strung along the best road that can be constructed, furnished
with all the means to operate, and with competent garrisons to occupy
them, is not calculated to afford that protection which the border
States have a right to expect from the Government, nor to redeem its
pledge to protect the emigrant tribes from the savage and warlike people
that surround them. The only possible use of such a road would be to
facilitate occasional communications between the posts in time of peace.
Supplies would not be transported along it, for they must be brought
from the interior. Succours could not reach the posts by that
direction, for they would be furnished by the militia within the line;
and any attempt to concentrate the forces composing the garrisons in the
event of an outbreak, would probably be attended with disastrous
consequences; for the troops, whose route must be well known, would be
exposed to be attacked and destroyed in detail. The enemy, having
nothing to dread on their flanks or rear, might approach this road
without risk, and attack the detachments on their line of march, before
they could concentrate their forces so as to offer an effectual
resistance.

"After mature reflection, I am of opinion that military posts ought to
be established and kept up within the Indian territory, in such
positions as to maintain peace among the Indians, and protect the
emigrant and feebler tribes against the stronger and more warlike
nations that surround them; which the United States are bound to do by
treaty stipulations. To withdraw those which now exist there, would be
to violate our faith, as there is reason to apprehend that it would be
the signal of war. Persons well acquainted with that country assure us
that war would break out among the Indians, `just so soon as the troops
are removed from those posts,' and all accounts from that quarter
confirm that impression.

"Independently of the military protection which the existence of these
posts in the interior of the Indian country afford to the emigrating
tribes, and the good they are calculated to effect by the beneficial
influence the officers are enabled to exert over the surrounding
Indians, they more effectually cover and protect the frontier than ten
times the number of fortresses, strung along in one line, could do.

"With the very limited know