Cedar Falls gazette. [volume] (Cedar Falls, Iowa) 1860-1895, 1862-04-04
Correspondence Of the Gazette.
From Fort Randall,
Fort RANDALL, d. T.
Eal,p,ta- 20 1SsA

FoRT RANDALL d. t.
-.". -... February IL, 1862.
FRIEND PERKINS The monotony of our
Fort Randall existence has been somewhat
disturbed, within the past week, by the
arrival of citizen of Dakota, by the name
Of Lyman, claiming the right to command
the Fort. Upon first seeing the papers of
the claimant, Capt. Pattee did not think them
sufficient to justify his giving up the CON-
mand, but after further dcliberation the post
was surrendered, and the detachment of 10.
wa troops now stationed here are under the
command of Major Lyman. A few enter
prisi"g and patriotic citizens of Dakota have
been making great exertions for two or three
months, to raise two companies of soldiers in
the territory, Tor the purpose of garrsoning
Fort Randall. On the strength of these two
companies, (Which by the way do not exist.
and probably never wlD Lyman has received
orders from the Secretary of War to take
command of the Fort, with, as it appears. n
promise OF Majors commission As would
naturally be expected, cur soldiers arc quite
indignant at the idea Of being commanded
by any one not Of Iowa. They Miuk and
kno'r, that. there are just as competent men
In Their own regiment as can be found i'm
Dakota, and they are not able to see the jus-
t1ce OF the present arrangement. It was
amusing to see how unanimously the tide
OF feeling turned in favor OF Capt. Pattee as
soon as there was a prospect of his being su-
pelseded. Notwithstanding the outrageous
reports which have been circulated concern.
ing his management, there was not an officer
here, nor but ts,c soldiers, but would gladly
have signed petition in favor of Capt. Pat
tee as their commander, had they thought it
would be Of any use. But since it seems to
be the wish of "the powers that be" that
Major Lyman should command the garrison.
of course there is no other way but for the
soldiers to submit II the new commander
fuliills the duties of his responsible position
as faithfully Capt Pattee has done, neither
the soldiers nor the government, will have
any cause for complaint. see some of the
Iowa papers are still harping upon "the out
rageous management of Captain Pattee
en- route from iowa City to this place. The
" State Press of Jan. Goth, publishes a diary
OF the march. Said diary was written by
some man belonging to Company "B." Who
he is have no means of knowing, as he had
too much prudence to attach his name to the
document. The editor, in his local" makes
the following comment: "Thc diary of the
march to Fort Randall makes apparent one
thing, and that is, that, in order to keep
from starvation, the boys had absolutely to
beg their scay, from the second DAYS march,
on as far as they found settlements to beg
FROM" In reply to this, will simply say,
that, it the editor of the "P,ess' has pub
lished communication from which such am
inference as this can be drawn, he has been
the means of circulating an memitigated false
hood. That some Of the soldiers did conde-
scend, not only to beg, but to steal provisions
from farm houses along the road, is true
but that they were at any time driven to this
necessity to prevent suffering, is a6solutely
tdlse. But enough of this.
Next to the change in Commanders here,
the greatest object Of interest is buffalo hunt
ing. News came few days ago that there
were large numbers of buffalo a short dis
tance above here, that had been driven down
from the north by the deep snow. This news
caused great excitement among the Indians
and they at once commenced fitting out an
expedition in pursuit Of these animals Sew
eral OF the soldiers joined the hunting party
The soldiers had a furlough Of one week, and
as the time expires to-day, they will be ex.
pected back this evening. The report came
day or two ago that the party had killed
ninety buffalocs. The approach of buffaloes
at this unusual season seems like +" God
send" to the Indians. To say nothing of the
large number of valuable robes which thcy
will get, the food furnished by the carcasscs
of these animals, will be the means of re.
lievinS a great amount of suffering.
If there are any readers of the GAZETTE
who have ever had any thoughts Of" emigra-
ting to Dakota, | would like to say to them
that the "opening" here is rery small. If
there is any country in the Northwest where
there is total absence of every kind of at
traction to an honest man, | think Dakota is
the place. 1t it generally supposed that cv-
crything was created for some purpose. but
think it would puzzle the wisest to determine
what use the Almighty intended to make OF
Dakota Territory. The territory covers a
great extent Of land, but, for agricultural pur-
pose, the county of Black Hawk is worth
more than all Dakota. The climate does not
differ vexX mncl from that in Northern iowa.
The pfC1 1t winter has rot been SO severe
hers as it has in your vicinity The greatest
degree Of cold has been % below zero
There has been scarcely any snow. At the
present time, the ground is as bare as it is in
June. But this is not a. fair specimen of the
winters here. According to the repcrt Of
9 the natives" last winter was very severe,
and there was large amount of snow. am
satisfied that they are capable Of getting up
tremendous storms here, although have
not as yet seen any grand Efforts in that
line. . They tcl' about the wind blowing
here so that persons dare not attempt to Cross
the parade ground, unless two or three GO to-
gcther, holding each other by the hand, for
/" mutual protection" as general rule,
the soil in that portion Of the territory where
| have been, is poor. As said in my letter
TO Esq Lombard (Which you had the impu-