Quote Originally Posted by reed11b View Post
(read what I mean, not what I write!! )
Reed


Seriously:
"... but the startegic uses of bases was also important...
I don't think so and i'd also argue it was tactical, not strategic. The Forts in no way compromised the Indians. Whichever batch Crook was after at the time -- the Apaches were not his only opponents. They were too mobile and too knowledgeable of the local terrain to allow the Forts to have much if any impact. The value of the Forts and their placement was that they allowed rapid and frequent resupply of his mule trains which while much faster and more mobile, could not carry as much as wagons. They were a tactical benefit.

He pushed his troops and those trains into rapid movement over a large swath of very inhospitable terrain and they could never know where pursuit of the bands might lead, hence the number of small forts versus a few large posts. The only thing remotely strategic was the site selection; the military benefit was purely tactical or, more pointedly, logistical...