George Crook Crook and the Apaches CLASS OF 1852 After graduating from West Point, Crook continued his army career on the West Coast, where he came to respect the Indians he was sent to subdue. “When they were pushed beyond endurance and would go on the warpath, we had to fight when our sympathies were with the Indians,” he later wrote. As a senior officer he became an outspoken champion of Indian rights. Crook distinguished himself in the Civil War, rising to the rank of major general, but returned to the frontier when the war ended. Among his notable innovations was substituting pack mules for wagon trains to supply his troops. He also preferred riding mules to horses. More controversially, Crook used Indian scouts and auxiliaries extensively. He also preferred negotiation to armed force in dealing with the problems arising from white settlement and the often unfair treatment that Indians received. NEXT Wars for Empire George Armstrong Custer 1839–1876 Class of 1861 Fayette Washington Roe 1850–1916 Class of 1871 Ranald Slidell Mackenzie 1840–1889 Class of 1862 Henry Ossian Flipper 1856–1940 Class of 1877 George Crook 1829–1890 Class of 1852
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