Paving the Way/The Only Good Indian...

S.L.A. Marshall was one of the most famous combat historians and journalists in American history and, while his methodology on "ratio to fire" has been called into question by some, his 30 plus years of experience still has to count for something. And so when Mr. Marshall once referred to the orders of Generals William Tecumseh Sherman and Philip Henry Sheridan as they pertained to the government's war on the plains Indians as "the most brutal orders ever to American troops", I have a tendency to believe the guy......................................................................................Not that this harsh assessment should come as any surprise, of course, in that these were the same exact war criminals who perpetrated the same exact atrocities on southern civilians (AND SLAVES) all throughout the Civil War and whose barbarism set the stage for future conflicts in which protocol was essentially destroyed (the Philippine War, the Boer War, WW1, WW2, Vietnam, etc.)....But these are the good guys, though.