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13 Background T his section covers staff duties along much the same lines as Volume 3, and in some instances is a follow-through on material covered in that volume. One particular instance is Fort Niobrara, Nebraska,1 the site for which Crook selected in 1879. Bourke covered that expedition in detail.2 In this volume, construction of the new post is underway, and Bourke is sent to inspect its progress. In this section, also, we see Interior Secretary Carl Schurz to a much greater degree than in Volume 3. In that volume, Schurz remains in the shadows, significant because of his hand in the Ponca Affair, which is also carried over from Volume 3. In Volume 4, however , Crook and Bourke accompany Schurz on a visit to Yellowstone National Park, where Bourke is able to observe him on a daily, and personal basis. Bourke had very little use for Schurz, his disdain apparently growing out of the Ponca Affair. At one point, he had gone so far as to call the secretary a “spindle-shanked Mephistopheles.”3 1. Fort Niobrara was established in 1880 on the Niobrara River, to protect cattlemen and settlers from whatever roaming bands of Indians might remain, and as an additional control over the Indians at the Spotted Tail Agency. It was abandoned in 1906 and is now a national wildlife refuge. Frazer, Forts of the West, 89. 2. See Robinson, Diaries, 3, Part 3. 3. Ibid., 3:409. 14 More Staff Duties The trip does nothing to change his basic opinion of the man, but Bourke does show a grudging admiration for Schurz’s intelligence. Although the Interior Department was created only in 1849, the secretary of the Interior was a much more powerful and prominent figure in the 1870s and 1880s than today. At that time, the United States was as committed to developing its interior as it was to foreign affairs, if not more so. The secretary of the Interior was responsible for facilitating that development. The army, although under the War Department, was a key factor in that development. It essentially was an internal police force, structured more toward suppressing Indian outbreaks and quelling domestic disturbances than involvement in foreign wars. The Interior Department often had the task of determining whether military intervention was necessary , a situation that did not endear it to the army command which, by training and temperament, viewed Indian fighting with disdain. While the Department of State negotiated with foreign powers as a matter of routine, the Interior Department was forced into a delicate balancing act of often conflicting national, regional, economic, social, and ethnic interests. Thus Schurz was a key member of the Hayes Cabinet and a power to be reckoned with. ...

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