Chapter 575 North Platte Fortress

Chapter 568 North Platte Fortress

Compared with Deniford, the Governor of the Nebraska Territory, William Alexander Richardson, who was adjacent to the Colorado Territory, was full of worry and vigilance towards the eastward march of Chinese immigrants.

In the mid-19th century, the Nebraska Territory did not have its own regular army. Only some irregular militia organizations and local police existed as armed forces. These organizations were usually composed of local residents, and their main purpose was to maintain community security and fight against Indian attacks and other potential threats.

With the rise of the westward movement, more and more immigrants from the east moved here.

The relationship between these eastern immigrants and the Omaha, Pawande, Lupi, Blackshear, Crow and other Indian tribes in the Nebraska Territory has deteriorated sharply. Attacks have occurred frequently, and the confrontation between the two sides has become more intense. It also suddenly strengthened.

Because these Indian tribes were equipped with advanced muskets obtained from unknown sources, in the conflicts that broke out between the two sides, Nebraska's eastern immigrant armed forces did not have an advantage, but gradually fell into a disadvantage.

The area they could effectively control continued to shrink, and was gradually compressed into a handful of settlements such as Omaha, Brownville, Pawai Yomi, Norfolk, and Parshayen.

Relying only on local irregular militia organizations and local police, it was difficult for these eastern immigrants to fight against the numerous hostile Indian tribes around them.

For this reason, the Governor of Nebraska, William Alexander Richardson, had to request the federal government to temporarily send regular troops to the Nebraska Territory to help them exterminate the local hostile Indian tribes.

However, at this time, the federal government was already too busy to take care of itself, and the armies of the North and the South were already divided. Although nominally these armies still belonged to the American Army and were under the same flag.

But it has been difficult for the federal government's War Department to effectively mobilize these highly prejudiced troops.

In the federal government's army, whether they are officers or soldiers, when they mention their identities to outsiders, they first identify themselves as soldiers of the North, the South, or a certain state, rather than as soldiers of the United States.

Soldiers also often preferred to take orders from officers from the same state as themselves rather than from federally commissioned officers.

For the first time in the 84 years since the founding of the United States, the United States has encountered such a serious identity crisis. The rift between the north and the south and between the states has reached an irreparable level.

At this critical moment, Liang Yao, the commander of the Western Brigade, stood up and expressed his willingness to send a regiment to the Nebraska Territory to wipe out the local hostile Indian tribes.

At this time, the Buchanan government did not have many choices, and readily agreed to Liang Yao's dispatch of a state to Nebraska to maintain the federal government's nominal control over the Nebraska Territory.

Although Buchanan had previously received complaints from territorial governors in Idaho, Wyoming and other places.

These territorial governors complained to Buchanan that Liang Yao had close contacts with many Indian tribes and even secretly conducted arms trade with hostile Indian tribes.

As usual, when emergencies occurred in the western territories, the American Army usually dispatched troops to respond to emergencies, such as Indian attacks or territorial disputes with neighboring countries. However, these armies were usually temporary rather than permanent local armies.

However, Richardson found that the various behaviors of the Arizona regiment stationed in the Nebraska Territory showed that they did not intend to be stationed only temporarily, but intended to be stationed here for a long time.

Richardson led his militia troops around North Platte. On horseback, Richardson took out his monocular and observed every move of the Arizona regiment near North Platte.

I saw that these heavily armed Arizona regiments were playing the role of supervisors, monitoring every move of the migrant workers.

In just three or four months, a military fortress built based on the North Platte Railway Station has risen and begun to take shape.

Several watchtowers and forts were built around the fortress, and foundations were being laid on the mountainside on both sides of the river valley.

Although Richardson, who graduated from the University of North Carolina Law Department, is not a professional soldier, he is not ignorant of the military.

He knew exactly what Kruger, the commander of the Arizona Infantry Regiment, wanted to do by laying these foundations halfway up the mountain.

Kruger wanted to build forts on the mountainside on both sides of the valley to completely control the Pacific Railway, the main transportation route between the east and the west.

"Your Majesty the Governor, in my opinion, these barbarians from the west came to Nebraska to help us suppress the Indians. They built a fortress in North Platte under the banner of suppressing the Indians to control the main transportation routes between the east and west. That’s true,” Meriwether Lewis, a militia captain who retired from the Army with the rank of lieutenant colonel, told Richardson.

"The Indians didn't drive them away, but brought in a group of bad wolves." Richardson put away his telescope and sighed, "If they are allowed to build a fortress here, the situation in Nebraska will only get worse in the future. It’s complicated.”

Although there was a Nebraska Act passed by the United States Congress in 1854, it was also called the Kansas-Nebraska Act.

The act divided Kansas and Nebraska into two and adopted the "sovereignty principle" that "sovereignty belongs to the people." According to this principle, the residents of Nebraska and Kansas could decide whether to allow slavery by popular vote, rather than having the central government decide.

Nebraska has decided through a local meeting that Nebraska will not have slaves, but the slave-holding forces in Nebraska have not completely subsided.

If the forces in the West intervene in Nebraska at this time, the muddy waters in Nebraska will only become more and more muddy.

"How about we discuss with them? Tell them that we can solve the problem of the hostile Indian tribes by ourselves and send them out of the country with courtesy?" Richardson's son Richardson Jr. said to Richardson.

"How can it be that easy?" Richardson raised his whip and pointed to the fortress wall not far away. "This military fortress has taken shape. It seems that they have invested at least tens of thousands of dollars in it. A few days ago, they bought more than 4,000 horses from other places. How can they be driven away with just a few words? Your idea is too naive."

"Sir, the best way at present is to report this matter to His Excellency the President and transfer the Arizona Regiment through the transfer order of the War Department." Lewis suggested.

"That's the only way." Richardson said helplessly.

This is the only solution at the moment.

Richardson also knew that it was easier to ask for help than to send it away. The federal government's transfer order was already difficult to mobilize troops from the northern and southern states. As for whether the troops in the west could be mobilized, Richardson had no idea.