The death of General Sheridan in August last was a national affliction.  The Army then lost the grandest of its chiefs.  The country lost a brave and experienced soldier, a wise and discreet counselor, and a modest and sensible man.  Those who in any manner came within the range of his personal association will never fail to pay deserved and willing homage to his greatness and the glory of his career, but they will cherish with more tender sensibility the loving memory of his simple, generous, and considerate nature.

The Apache Indians, whose removal from their reservation in Arizona followed the capture of those of their number who engaged in a bloody and murderous raid during a part of the years 1885 and 1886, are now held as prisoners of war at Mount Vernon Barracks, in the State of Alabama.  They numbered on the 31st day of October, the date of the last report, 83 men, 170 women, 70 boys, and 59 girls; in all, 382 persons.  The commanding officer states that they are in good health and contented, and that they are kept employed as fully as is possible in the circumstances.  The children, as they arrive at a suitable age, are sent to the Indian schools at Carlisle and Hampton.

Last summer some charitable and kind people asked permission to send two teachers to these Indians for the purpose of instructing the adults as well as such children as should be found there.  Such permission was readily granted, accommodations were provided for the teachers, and some portions of the buildings at the barracks were made available for school purposes.  The good work contemplated has been commenced, and the teachers engaged are paid by the ladies with whom the plan originated.

I am not at all in sympathy with those benevolent but injudicious people who are constantly insisting that these Indians should be returned to their reservation.  Their removal was an absolute necessity if the lives and property of citizens upon the frontier are to be at all regarded by the Government.  Their continued restraint at a distance from the scene of their repeated and cruel murders and outrages is still necessary.  It is a mistaken philanthropy, every way injurious, which prompts the desire to see these savages returned to their old haunts.  They are in their present location as the result of the best judgment of those having official responsibility in the matter, and who are by no means lacking in kind consideration for the Indians.  A number of these prisoners have forfeited their lives to outraged law and humanity.  Experience has proved that they are dangerous and can not be trusted.  This is true not only of those who on the warpath have heretofore actually been guilty of atrocious murder, but of their kindred and friends, who, while they remained upon their reservation, furnished aid and comfort to those absent with bloody intent.

These prisoners should be treated kindly and kept in restraint far from the locality of their former reservation; they should be subjected to efforts calculated to lead to their improvement and the softening of their savage and cruel instincts, but their return to their old home should be persistently resisted.