Daily Ohio statesman. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1855-1870, 1867-06-25
-APerIIo,n,oo,sI Adrenture.

8 "a letter from an officer at Fort Phil.
EKearney, Dakota Territory. to his friend
in Detroit, has been published in the d etroit
Post. We extract from it the following
account of perilous adventure:
'sWe have finally succeeded in opening
communication with Fort C. F. Smith,
ninety miles above here on the Big Horn
river. Up to three days ago we had heard
nothing from them for two months, and
were very anxious about them; but after
repeated trials by mOuntaineers and miners
near here to go through, we at length sue
ieeeded In sending two messengers, Sergeant
= Grant, of my company, and Sergeant Gra-
ham, of Company g.. They started from
here on foot, with snow -shoes, and took to
the mountains, with only ordinary cloth
ing and six days rations of hard bread and
lard. Each night they cached one days ra-
. tions, and left memorandum of what had
happened to them. They finally, alter
much. suffering and hunger, reached
Fort Smith with our dispatches. They
STAYED two days, and were sent back with a
half-breed named Boye each mounted, and
with two pack mules, When they came to
buffalo had been killed, and moccasin tracks
around it, and Immediately left the road and
made for the hills. When they had gone
about five miles and crossed hill they
stopped, looked back and saw about fifteen
Indians after. them. Their horses were
OlOWf1. anu S6rR6dQba OTdub fudO W SHOOJ
his. The other two men, getting frighten-
ed, ran away from him and left him afoot.
he ran towards a clump of pines, about
five hundred yards distant, and while so
doing, he fell into a hole in the snow,
and found that he had been running
on the edge of precipice of sheer
two hundred feet tall, and had fallen
, on little ledge of rocks, the entrance of
which was through hole that was cover
ed with snow. He sat down under the
cliff and waited. He had Spencer car
bine, breech-loading, and eighty rounds of
ammunition, and say - he felt perfectly safe.
He heard the Indians yelling above him,
and soon they commenced to throw stones
down the hole. which was about nine feet
deep, and Just sheltered him. Then one In
dian Jumped down into the hole armed with
! Henry repeating rifle. When he (the In
dian3 saw Sergeant Grant he dropped his
gun and gave a1yell, and starting back fell
over the ledge, which was narrow. In q
few minutes another Indian let himself
down, and Grant shot him, and threw his
body over the bank. This was about nine
I, o'clock in the morning. The Indi-
ans stayed near the mole till nearly
: dark, when a thick fog came up
and they went away. He cautious
Iy followed them, keeping in their
trail for about.three miles. till they again
struck the river, when he tore up his over
coat and made wrappings of it for his feet
to hide the shoe nails, and went up the
river on the ice. He travelled four days.
e and ON the evening OF the fourth day got
into the post. Sergeant Graham and Boyer
got in an hour before him, and told us that
Z he was killed, and that the man was lost
and all the horses gone. Boyer had only one
Smith, which he carried in his pocket.
p They seemed very badly scared. : 7-sr, ,f
"a "When Grant made his appearance, COW
cred with ice, and with the Henry rifle he
had captured, Graham thought it was his
ghost. Altogeter it was one of the best
things that had been done in this country,
, and we are all going to do something for
Grant, and try and get him something from
Washington. He is very sick in hospital
now, with pleurisy and exhaustion, result
ing from his suffering and exposure" a