The star of the north. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1849-1866, 1865-08-09
CORRESPONDENCE.
La CLEDE STATION, Rocky Mountain,

/
lovers of American Liberty. But how few,
alas can, or really DO, properly appreciate
the value OF true freedoml freedom OF
] speech, freedom OF the press, freedom of
soul and body, freedom TO worship God
according 10 the dictates of their own con-
! sciences. Many of those who make the
| loudest and most violent proiesIations of
their love of liberty are themselves the
! willing slaves OF passion, avarice or pride
They care not for The true interest of those
whom they profess 10 love. They offer
The m their protection, butit is such proiec-
J lion as "vutuTes give 10 lambs" as has
been exhibited by the privalious and suf-
! ferings which the poor African has been
called 10 endure. But | do mol propose in
! this communication 10 give you political
/ letter; the thought expressed above was
suggested by the associations oil this day
| | presume IT is being variouslv celebrated
in the States, or in America" "a the say
ing is out here. Some with noisy demon.
STATIONS, burning the usual, perhaps an
unusual, amount of powder aEd fite-crack
ers, and DESTROYING an extra quantity OF the
ardent Buncombe speeches have no doubt
been made. and the usual number oi Sun
day School celebrations and Pic Mics been
held. But this will not be at all interesting
to you oi your readers as The day Will have
long passed and perhaps forgotten ere this
reaches you.
We are spending it in a very quiet man.
ner, lying by; no speerhes, no drinking or
Drunkenness, as you may we'll suppose with
whiskeY at four bits $50 cts.) a drink. As
we are now considered hey ond any proba-
bic danger of attack by Indians, we begin
10 breathe more freely and can look back
with thankfulness upon the dangers we
have passed. | stated in my last letter that
rro foil in 10
Larimie Station, but we did not do so per-
nianently until week later. The country
through which we were passing as inteed
was most OF that parl OF Kansas which we
traversed, an open, rolling prairie, with
nothing 10 fear from any source. We reach
ed MarysvilIe on the Sd of May. This is
considered quite a place 10 this country,
and there does seem 10 be conside erable
business done in ii. 1t seems 10 be a GEN.
trail point OF trade for a large section OF
country. II is situated on The right bank
ot The Big Blue river which is here crossed
by an excellent bridge. Stopped here part
of day would save remained longer buI
feed was scarce and we concluded 10 move
on.
We reached Rock Creek on the 9Th
There we lay over until the 9th, when we
again stuck our tent and travelled that day
and the next by ourselves. On the morn
ing OF the 10Th we were quite surprised at
finding the ground covered with snow The
air was cold and winIry. On The 10Th We
reached Big Sandy, where we found the
best water we had met with along the way.
From this point we travelled in company
with the train 10 Fort Kearney. This pre-
caution was considered necessary from the
fact that one days drive OF 81 miles would
bring us 10 the ground on which the Indians
made such brutal demonstrations in last
August. We reached the Little Blue on
the evening OF the 1ith and travelled up il
for about three days. Here the country
was more broken and hilIy-some little
signs Of cultivation were apparent; al Leaf
there were signs remaining. All the Sla
lions, ranches, aud other houses along the
river were destroyed by the Indians last
Summer. The dcpredalions are charged
against The Sioux and Shians, but many
think il was done by The Pawrees who are
proiesssdly friendly. There is no 6oubi
but that while men were at the bottom OF
} il, and il l. quite probable that The Pawnees
were the tools in The hands of these white
skinned bet black hearted scoundrels, for
whom no punishment known 10 civilization
would be 100 severe. In many instances
everything movable was DESTROYED, and
several lives were ruhlessiy taken away
picked up some human bones amidst the
ruins ol one of The burned ranches. Passed
the graves OF several persons said to have
been murdered al that time. Al one place
Ihers were SIX or eight buried in one grave.
Bot we passed along without seeing an
Indian either hostile or friendly. Whilst
the rest OF our party from Pennsylvania
who came over the ground about four DAYS
behind US saw more recent Sims oi The
enemy. In the neighborhood OF Elm Creek
and near 80 mile Creek, and only half
days travel ahead of them, eleven soldiers,
entirely unarmed aud on their way from
Leavenworih 10 join their Regiment, al
Kearney, were attacked ty the ssvages.
Two were killed and six wounded. The
rest made their escape. Our friends saw
about three hundred Indians ~ the distance,
getting ou; OF the way OF The soldiers W no
were alter them with a vengeance. At 30
mile Greek we found large but deserted
Indian camp. Ii was their headquarters
last Summer. On the 17lh we camped in
sight of the Platte River. The next day we
passed through Dog Town or Valley City
and on the 18th we came 10 Fort KeaTney.
| was very much disappointed in the place.
Ii is situated, as you are doubtless aware,
in Nebraska Territory, and | supposed con-
tanned fort aud large number of soldiers.
But instead, | found but few buildings and
was merely military post and the head
quarters of The district A tort has been
commenced but il is not half completed
They have three OF iour pieces of light
artillery and about one hundred soldiers
here OF duty. The rest OF the troops be-
longing 10 the Department are scattered
along the sage route guarding The stations
and escorting the coaches from one point
10 another. We lay over here until Mon-
day as we were not allowed to proceed
without an organization OF one hundred
men. On Sunday we had very serious
apprehensious regarding the safety of our
friends who bad mol yet arrived. We were
informed, on apparently good authority,
that they had had hard days fight with