Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1859-05-28
Incident in the Life of an Old Soldier.


displayed if the occurrences narrated wore
announced as literally true, a phcnomcnon
OF the mind which is probably result of
cnltivatlng the taste for romance, and a
habit ofpreterring it to reality For muob
the larger class, however, the incident am
abont to write down will possess an addi.
t'omI interest from the fact of it's absolute
truth. 1t actually occurred and relate il
substantially as it Was related to me by an
! eyewitness, who had no idea that | at tho
time meditated the publication of an occur
renee which he probably thought not very
tremarkRble, and to which he had merely
alluded as incidental to his own experience
in Indian warfare The chief actor in the
tragedy, thongh not its victim, was few
years ago an officer in the T.. s. Army. and
distinguished himself on many bloody and
wen 10 i9ngit heidS IN the campaign's OF Flor
IDA, Mexico and Central America.
1T was during the year 1896, in the
midst OF active operations against the Sem
inoles of Florida, that Col. - was sta
toned at Micanopy \ party had been
sent to stockado or a block house several
miles away, to bring in number of sick
and wounded soldiers, the fortfcatiop.of
Miconopy having much better and more
ample accommodations. They hadnot long
been gone when a number of their horses
came galloping back to camp rdcrlcss, their
wild eyes, distendcd nostrils and ouiverino
limbs giving every indication of extreme
terror. There was no room to doubt the
cause OF their return, nor the fate of their
late riders At any moment when ] least
expected, just ut that period, the dense pine
ana cypress forests might suddenly swarm
with rcvcngeful warriors Of the everglades
ana, when their bloody work was done. they
vanished into the depths of their almost
inpenctrable fastncss as mystcriouslv and
rapidly as they had come forth. Pursuit
IN such cases was not only useless, but ex
tremciy dangerous, as knowing every foot
OF the dark forests, tangled thickcts, and
trcacherous morasscs, the red men could
choose their ambuscadc, and lead their foe
INTO the very jaws of death But consider
ations of this kind were not for an instant
entertained on that occasion. Not a mo-
7ment was lost, even in organizing relief
party, but score Of eager volunteers sprano
to their saddles and dashed away in mad
haste upon the path which their unfortu-
nate comrades had taken but short time
before
Among those first in the saddle and fore
most in the pursuit was the Colonel. Splcn-
dldly mounted, he was seen far in advance
OF his companions and rendered bv numer-
Gus scouting excursions familiar with the
topography OF the surrounding country; he
suddenly lcftthe circuitouspati, and struck
through the forest in direct line for the
point at which he felt confident the saynn-
es ,%, must have assailod the party of troopers.
The silence ola midsummer day hung about
HIM. Not deer dashing through the
thlckets, not bird singing in the branch
cs--no soundsavc the murmur of the winds
through the tuftca cones overhead. and the
light tread of thc.nimble footed stecd. as he
swept rapidly across the open glades and
through the heavy shadows of the pine and
cypress groves. There was sufficient dan.
ger in the Coloncl's situation to stimulate
his nerves to unusual tension, and keep ey-
cry faculty alert. To men of elcss hardi-
hood and less familiarity with Indian war.
fare mysterious and indiscribable terror
would have lnrked in every dark recess of
the forest; but he felt only the burning
thirst OF vengeance, an irresistible impulse
to hurry forward to the scene of slaughter,
an ovcrmastering desire to meet the painted
foe, that left no room for thought of peril.
brisk ride ofhalf an hour, and he had
ocular proof of the correctness of his sus-
pcous. Scattered about amidst a dense
underground, the shadows of which, half
concealed their ghastiy faces and bare,
bloody skulls, lay here and there, they had
fallen on either side ofthc path, the mutil-
ated corpse of his late companions in arms
inc men who few hours before set out
from camp careless of the chances of war,
fearless and light-heartcd as himself.
lie did not pause TO count the slain but
fixing his proctised eye upon the trail which
Indicated the way the enemy mad taken
pressed madly forward in pursuit, That
pursuit was suddenly brought to close by
spectacle which sent the hot blood in a
torrent back upon his heart. Entering at
a rapid pace from dense cover of scrub
oak into thinly wooded tract of half.erown
pines, -ho bahc!d, not n hundred yards from
the spot wherein he had reigned hishorsc back
upon his launches, a large band of fcatl
cred aud painted warriors gathered about
a snpling, which had been stripped of It's
branches, and to WHICH was bound, with
his hands above his head, trooper who
had been taken prisoner in the recent at
tack, one of the largest and most athletic
men in the army. The savagcs had built
q wall .ofpint knots breast high about him,
to which they had already applied the
brand, and column of heavy black smoke
was rising into the air, and circling away