Sunbury American. [volume] (Sunbury, Pa.) 1848-1879, 1858-02-06
COLONEL COOKIES MARCH TO JOIN TEE
UTAH ARMY-TERRIBLE suFFEntSGS.

COLONEL COOKIES MARCH TO JOIN TEE
UTAH ARMY-TERRIBLE suFfEnt5Gs.
The arrears of news that come in day after
day from our Utah army are dscouragiug.-
Colonel Cookies report to the Adjutant Ger
eraal of the Utah army, ofhs march from tie
Missouri TO the valley ef the Salt Lake, is
full Of curious interest. He started in COM
mand Of six companies I'd Dragoons, from
Fort Leavenworth, on 18th Geptember, and
his journal ends with his arrival at Fort Bird.
ger on the ! 9th Of November. Ae says:
The regular journal of each days march is
given, how it rained, and how the mules died,
and tho men cemplained. On October 5th
he arrived at Fort kearney; on the 18th
crossed the South Platte-the thermometer
Was at l3, and the river full Of ice.
II was discretionary with Col. Cooke TO
winter at Fort Laramie or to post on to Salt
Lake. lie preferred the latter course. On
November 4th his command was at Sweet
Water Pass in the Rocky Mountains; next
day they gained Devils Gate.
"On the 9th we found the ground once
more white and the snow falling, but then
very moderately. ] marched as usual On
four mile hill the north wind s0d drifting
snow became severe; the air seemed turned
to frozen fog; nothing could be seen; We
we're struggling in freezing cloud. The lof.
ty wall at Three Crossing was q happy re-
lief, but the guide, who had lately passed
there WAS relentless in pronounciug that there
was no grass: the idea Of finding and feeding
upon grass in that wintry storm, under the
deep snow, was hard TO entertain, but as he
promised grass and other shelter two miles
further, We marched on, crossing twice more
the rocky stream, half chokod with snow and
ice; finally lie led us behind great granite
rock, but all too small for the promised she-
ter, only part Of the regiment could huddle
there, in the deep snow while, the long night
through, the storm continued, and the fearful
eddies from above, before. behind, drove the
falling and drifting snow. Thus exposed, for
the hope of grase, the poor animals were Gri-
ven with great devotion by the men once
more across the stream, and three. quarters OF
q mile beyond, to the base OF Il granite ridge
but which almost faced the storm; there the
tamlshed mnles, crying piteously, did not
seek to eat bot desperately gathered in
macs, and some horsee, escaping the guard,
went back TO the ford whore the lofty preci.
pice first gave US so pleasant relief and shcl.
ten.
"Fhus morning light had nothing cheering
to reveal, the cir still filed with driven snow
tho animals soon came driven in aud min
gled in confusion with men, went crunching
the snow in the confined and wretcted csmp,
tramping all things in their way. 1t was not
a time to dwell on the fact that from that
mountain desert there was no retreat, nor
any shelter near but time for action. But
for six hours the frost or frozen fog fell thick
ly like snow and again We marched on as in
a cloud.
The deep snow drifts impeded as much,
and in crossing Sweet Water the ice broke
in the middle Marching ten miles only,
got better camp, and berded the horses on
the hills it was different road, weere few
DAYS before the bodies Of three frozen men
had been found"
On the Sth the thermometer stood at A4o
below the freezing point. The snow was
deep; twenty-tbree mules gave oct, and five
wagons were abandoned.
"Nine trooper horses we're left freezing and
! dying on the road, and a number OF soldiers
and teamsters had been frost bitten. 1t was
q desperately cold night the thermometers
were broken, but by comparison must have
marked 25o below zero. A bottle sherry
wine lreze in trunk. Having lost about ll-
| ty mules in thlrty.six hours, the morning of
| llth, on the report Of the Qusrtermaster
felt bogud to leave wagon in the bushes fill
ed with seyenty-four extra saddles and bri-
! dies and some sabres"
Next day the corn gave out, the mules we're
dying in hunger,
They gnawed and destroyed four wagon
tongues, a number OF wagon covers, ate their
ropes, and getting loose, ale the sage fuel
| collected at the teGts. Some OF these they
also attacked. Nine died.
"The fast growing company Of dismOunled
men were marched together as u separate
command by day the morning of the twelfth
| u number of them we're frostbitten from rot
being in motion, although standing by the
! fire.
"That day eighteen mules wero marched to
Big Sandy where the guide found grass, and
fuel with it so good that the 9th was made
a day Of rest the animals we're all herded at
the grass. Fifty horses had been lost since
leaving Laramie"
He closes the report of his march with the
following:
IL have IA horses and have lest I34.-
NJ ost Of the loss has occurred much this side
Of South Pass, iD comparatively moderate
weather. 1t has been of starvation. The
earth has no more lifeless, treeless, grass
less desert; it contains scarcely o wolf to
glut itself on the hundreds OF dead and frsZen
animals, which for thirty miles nearly block
the road with abandoned and shattered prop
erIy. They mark, perhaps beyond example
IN history, The steps Of au advancing army
With the horrors OF disastrous retreat"
MANA SAnIBs SHAwL.-At the Museum in
Leicester Square, London, there is now on
exhibition the yeritable ceremonial robe Of
that Hlndoo demon Of Mana Sahib," as
the Bombay letters describe him, which is
daily inspected by immene crowds. The
shawl alone is said to be worth thousand
pounds sterling, aud is most perfect speci.
men Of Indian workmanship.