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The word "extermination," as applied to human beings, is most commonly associated with the twentieth century. Yet long before the Turkish-Armenian genocide, not to mention the Soviet-Ukrainian and Nazi-Jewish, it was already being used to describe U.S. government policy with regard to Native Americans. Not only had the term come into use by 1866, the date of this New York Times editorial, but thoughtful individuals such as the editorial's author had come to question the practice.

The date is telling: on May 16, 1866, the Civil War had been over for 13 months, and the commander of the Union forces who won the war, General Ulysses S. Grant (1822-85), was the man of the hour. In 1866 he had been promoted to the highest of all ranks, the newly created General of the Army. Hence the occasion for this piece, a letter from an unnamed "gentleman" offering his unpaid services to Grant for the purpose of "clear[ing]...