“And on the same occasion—it is my excuse for quotations, my friends, that I want you to hear these words from two of the greatest Generals we have ever known—on the same occasion, remembering then, as we remember today, how unjustly General Sullivan was at one time criticised for the harshness of his treatment of the Indians on the Susquehanna expedition, remembering, too, that he suffered these criticisms in silence rather than to lay the blame upon his beloved Chief, Washington, who had given him the orders which were condemned, I quote from the words of General Sherman, spoken also in my hearing on the same occasion: “‘Our fathers, when they first landed upon this continent, came to found an empire, based upon new principles, and all opposition to it had to pass away, whether it were English or French on the north, or Indians on the west; and no one knew it better than our father, Washington. He gave General Sullivan orders to come here and punish the Six Nations for their cruel massacre in the valley of Wyoming, and to make it so severe that it would not occur again. And he did so. General Sullivan obeyed his orders like a man and like a soldier, and the result was from that time forward your people settled up these beautiful valleys around here, and look at their descendants here, a million almost. If it had not been for General Sullivan and the men who followed him from Easton, and Clinton’s forces that came across from Albany, probably some of you would not have been here today.’ “I still read: ‘Battles are not measured by their death roll, but by their results, and it makes no difference whether one man was killed or five hundred if the same result follows. This valley was opened to civilization. It came on the heels of General Sullivan’s army, and has gone on and gone on until today. The same battle is raging upon the Yellow Stone. The same men endowed by the same feelings that General Sullivan’s army had today are contending with the same causes and the same races two thousand miles west of here, not for the purpose of killing, not for the purpose of shedding blood, not for the purpose of doing wrong at all, but to prepare the way for that civilization which must go along wherever yonder flag floats.’