them at these headquarters. Then he visited the posts in the early spring and made the pictures before the foliage had sufficiently put forth to interfere with the view. After this, by authority of the Secretary of War, the photogravures found in this report were produced. While the pictures of the posts had to be taken at a distance to cover the entire view, which reduces the number of details and the size of the pictures very much, yet I think that coupled with the descriptions, also prepared by Lieutenant Hale, they will convey a fair deai of each locality to anyone familiar with the surroundings, from a personal inspection of any frontier post. In the management of the lyceums, I have found it convenient and effective to have an officer of my staff in general charge. Lieutenant Sturgis, aide-de-camp, has, in addition to his other duties, had personal supervision of this matter, and has expended much time and valuable experience in perfecting the service. The report' on this subject is appended with that of other staff officers. Special attention is invited to the recommendations made by Lieutenant Sturgis as to classes in the lyceums. They are heartily concurred in. The reports of staff officers of their several departments are printed herewith. They contain a full account of the transactions of the supply departments, and are commended to the attention of proper authority. In connection with the labor troubles which have lately occurred attention is especially called to the necessity of a system of tactics for maneuver of machine guns. Drills in the use of these weapons have not been obligatory, because there is no known system of tactics for their I unite in the recommendation that a proper system of tactics be provided, so that drills may be ordered. use. During the year the following changes have taken place in the department staff: Lieut. Col. Merritt Barber, assistant-adjutant general, was relieved on October 15, 1893, by Maj. Theo. Schwan, and he in turn was relieved on December 1, 1893, by Lieut. Col. M. V. Sheridan, as adjutantgeneral of the department. Later (July 17, 1894), Lieut. Col. J. Ford Kent, inspector-general of the department, was relieved from duty at these headquarters, and Maj. Schwan, of the adjutant-general's department, was detailed in his place. Maj. Wirt Davis, Fifth United States Cavalry, who has performed the duties of inspector of small-arms practice in this department for the past three years, was relieved from duty by orders from the War Department, and Capt. William Gerlach, Third Infantry, chief ordnance officer of the department, was detailed by me for the position. To Colonel Barber, Colonel Kent, and Major Davis, who have served continuously in the department during my command of it in the capac ities above mentioned, my especial thanks are due for a most thorough administration of the affairs of each department over which each of these officers had control. The department staff as now organized is thoroughly efficient and eminently satisfactory to me. Respectfully, W. MERRITT, Brigadier-General, Commanding Department. The ADJUTANT-GENERAL, UNITED STATES ARMY, 1 Omitted. Washington, D. C. REPORT OF BRIG. GEN. JOHN R. BROOKE. HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF THE PLATTE, Omaha, Nebr., August 27, 1894. SIR: In compliance with your letter, dated July 24th, I have the honor to submit this my annual report: The number of troops in the department has been diminished since my last annual report by a transfer of three companies of the Twentyfirst Infantry to the Department of the East, and the discharge from the service of Company I, Second Infantry, and Company I, Eighth Infantry (Indians), in accordance with law and at their own request. Changes of stations of troops are as follows: May 23, Troop F, Ninth Cavalry, from Fort Robinson, Nebr., to Fort Duchesne, Utah, Department of the Colorado. May 24, Company I, Twenty-first Infantry, from Fort Sidney, Nebr., to Fort Omaha, Nebr. June 1, Companies D, F, and G, Twenty-first Infantry, from Fort Sidney, Nebr., to Plattsburg Barracks, N. Y., Department of the East. June 8, Troop H, Ninth Cavalry, to Fort Robinson, Nebr., from Fort Duchesne, Utah. July 8, Troops A, E, G, and H, Sixth Cavalry, from Fort Niobrara, Nebr., to temporary duty at Fort Sheridan, Ill., Department of the Missouri. Practice marches last autumn were successful at all posts where they were held. At Fort Niobrara they were dispensed with on account of there being too few officers to conduct them with success. During May and a part of June the operation of the Union Pacific Railroad, now under control of the United States courts, was interrupted by the action of certain irresponsible bodies calling themselves "industrial armies," and during the months of July and August the transcontinental roads and branches were seriously interfered with by strikers. In both cases the United States troops were successfully used to restore order and open the roads to traffic. This will form the subject of a special report. The Indians throughout the department have been quiet and peaceable. Instruction in military signaling has been held in compliance with Army Regulations, and classes at each post have been pronounced proficient. Rifle, carbine, and pistol practice has been interrupted somewhat this year owing to the disturbances on the railroads, but is being completed, and the reports, together with that of the annual competitions, will form the subject of a special report. The post exchange has added another year to its successful experience, but I will have some suggestions to make later regarding its future conduct, which can not be so well treated of in this report. I wish to renew my recommendation of last year, that the authority of company and other commanders should be further augmented by authority of law so that minor disciplinary measures might be legally put in their hands. The inspection of posts in this department is now in progress and reports will be forwarded in due season. The instruction in military duty and schools for the enlisted men has progressed satisfactorily at all posts. Attention is invited to the accompanying synopsis of the reports as to the officers' lyceum which was continued throughout the prescribed season during the past year. I would invite attention to the accompanying reports of the staff officers of these headquarters, in which the details of the operations during the year are portrayed. I wish to acknowledge the zeal and ability displayed by the officers attached to these headquarters, which demand and receive an expression of my appreciation. Very respectfully, your obedient servant, JOHN R. BROOKE, Brigadier-General, Commanding. The ADJUTANT-GENERAL UNITED STATES ARMY, Washington, D. C. REPORT OF BRIG. GEN. A. M'D. M'COOK. HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF THE COLORADO, Denver, Colo., September 1, 1894. SIR: I have the honor to submit the annual report of the Department of the Colorado for the year 1893-94. This department was established by direction of the President, in General Orders No. 54, Headquarters of the Army, Adjutant-General's Office, Washington, July 1, 1893, to consist of the State of Colorado and the Territories of Utah, Arizona, and New Mexico, with headquarters at Denver, Colo. It has an area of 424,495 square miles, including 33,863 square miles of Indian reservations, and contains a population of 822,026 whites and 40,784 Indians. There are 13 military posts in the department, Fort Apache, Fort Bowie, Fort Grant, Fort Hauchuca, San Carlos, and Whipple Barracks, in Arizona; Fort Bayard, Fort Marcy, Fort Stanton, and Fort Wingate, in New Mexico; Fort DuChesne and Fort Douglas in Utah, and Fort Logan in Colorado. The condition of affairs existing in the State of Colorado, from the arrival of the headquarters of the department in Denver, July 14, 1893, to the present time, displays the wisdom of the authorities in the War Department in having moved headquarters from Los Angeles, Cal., to this place. On the afternoon of March 15, 1894, serious disorder was threatened by the assembling under arms of the local State troops in the vicinity of the city hall, to be employed by order of the governor against the sheriff of the county, the city police force, and several hundred deputy sheriffs, who had taken possession of the city hall and provided themselves with arms, ammunition and dynamite, in resistance to an effort made by the governor to seat two newly appointed members of the fire and police board of the city of Denver. Whether or not such an emergency existed as to warrant the governor, under the constitution and laws of the State, in calling out the National Guard; whether military force was resorted to by him simply for the purpose of ousting the old board and seating the new, or whether the executive power was not entirely exhausted in the act of appointment, leaving to the courts the duty of seating the new appointees, I did not feel called upon to consider. 1 Omitted. It became apparent to me, on the afternoon of March 15, from personal observation of the bitter hostility of the contending factions, from the assembling of the troops by the governor, the preparation of arms and dynamite by the opposing parties, and from the grave apprehension frequently expressed to me by representative professional and business men, that a collision was imminent at the city hall, and that the first shot would be the signal for a bloody riot to begin. These apprehensions were heightened by the recent experience of the city in the Arata affair, the details of which may be here referred to. A few days after my arrival in Denver, in July last, a resident of the city by the name of Arata was arrested and confined in the county jail upon the charge of murder. A few hours later an immense mob, numbering some ten thousand of the worst elements then present in the city, assembled about the jail, overpowered and intimidated the officers, battered down the doors with sledge hammers and crowbars, and dragged the prisoner into the street. He was hurried to a tree near by, his clothes being nearly torn off him by the infuriated mob, and hanged. As soon as the body was drawn above the heads of the crowd, it was riddled with bullets. The lifeless body was then taken down, the rope still about the neck, and dragged by the rabble through the principal streets with every mark of indignity and outrage. The fury of the mob having finally spent itself, the body was again hanged to a telephone pole on one of the most conspicuous places in the city. Throughout the whole affair the police seemed to be paralyzed and entirely unable to cope with the mob, and the city was filled with the most serious alarm. The following day the presidents of three national banks that are United States depositories called upon me to report that they had information, which they deemed reliable, that the following night an attempt would be made to break into and loot their banks. I notified these gentlemen that I would inform myself if such conditions existed and would be ready to protect the United States property in the city of Denver, including the money, amounting to about $350,000, deposited by the Government in these banks. The troops at Fort Logan were held in readiness and transportation prepared to bring them to the city in the performance of this duty, if found necessary. When, therefore, the difficulty between the governor and the police board arose and was brought to a crisis by the governor's order calling out the National Guard, it was very apparent, from the extreme tension of public feeling, that a single shot would have precipitated an attack on the governor's person and a repetition of scenes even more disgraceful than the Arata tragedy. In view of this state of feeling, the experience of the city in the Arata affair and the unfortunate industrial depression and distress which prevailed during the past winter, coupled with the fact that the entire police force of the city was withdrawn from its legitimate duty and assembled around about the city hall, I felt satisfied that an open rupture would be followed by the looting and burning of the business portion of the city, in which are located the United States mint, the Federal building, and the several depositories of Government funds. After the National Guard had taken position in front of the city hall, where a throng of several thousand people, including the most abandoned and reckless element of the populace, had congregated, committees of citizens from the Chamber of Commerce passed to and fro between the sheriff's party and the governor, striving to secure a suspension of hostilities and to gain time for cooler counsels to prevail; but both sides were inflexible, and the governor's order was given that if the city hall did not surrender in thirty minutes the troops were to open with infantry and artillery fire. It was at this critical juncture that, at about 5.20 p.m., I received the following letter from the governor of Colorado, Davis H. Waite: STATE OF COLORADO, EXECUTIVE CHAMBER, Denver, March 15, 5.20 p.m. I have called out the militia in Denver (National Guard) to enforce the laws of the State. I find an organized opposition by the city police and detective force and the sheriff's office. I can enforce the laws, but not without great bloodshed. I call upon you, as governor of the State, to assist me in preserving order and in preventing bloodshed. DAVIS H. WAITE, General McCook, United States Army. Governor of Colorado. Perceiving that the property of the United States here located was now in serious jeopardy, the mint and Federal building being but a few blocks from the city hall, and that troops could not reach the city in time to render effective aid after a riot or a fire had once begun, I sent the following telegraphic order to the commanding officer, Fort Logan: DENVER, COLO, March 15, 1894. The department commander directs that you report here with five companies of your command, with 100 rounds of ammunition per man and rations for twenty-four hours. Special train will leave at once for your post. Upon arrival here report in person to department commander at headquarters. Hold troops at depot. THOMAS WARD, Assistant Adjutant-General. The COMMANDING OFFICER, Fort Logan, Colo. HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF THE COLORADO, In pursuance of your demand, this moment received, I have ordered the troops from Fort Logan to come at once to the city, for the sole purpose of preserving peace. I act in the matter under paragraph 585, Army Regulations. I consider a crisis imminent, and insurrection and riot against the executive authority of the State of Colorado. The troops, upon arrival, will be directed to act with great discretion, and I will see that the laws of the land are not violated. I would recommend that an order issue that the National Guard be returned to their armory. DAVIS H. WAITE, Governor of Colorado, Denver, Colo. A. McD. McCook, Brigadier-General, Commanding. The following is the answer received from the governor: STATE OF COLORADO, EXECUTIVE MANSION, Yours by your aid-de-camp received. I respectfully decline to order the National Guard, now endeavoring to enforce the laws of the State, to their armory, but will confer with you or Colonel Merriam, whom shall be in command when the troops arrive. Respectfully, General McCook. DAVIS H. WAITE, Governor. At 7.30 p. m., accompanied by my aid-de-camp, First Lieut. C. B. Baker, Seventh Infantry, I called upon Governor Waite at his quarters. I found in front of the house a detachment of the National Guard. Being admitted to the presence of the governor, I at once proceeded to explain to him what authority I had under the law for the use of the United States troops, what I could do and what I could not do. He |