The Jackson standard. [volume] (Jackson C.H., Ohio) 1847-1888, 1880-05-06

now UHe horses were suffering ITOHl
thirst scarcely less than their riders.
The captains private horse, the tough
est of the party, was given to the
guide, who set out in search of water,
but was never seen again.
The next day an attempt was made
to fall back upon Double Lakes
where water was expected, but having
no guide they lost their way, and
wandered for three days among the
hills before water was found. During
this time their suffering from heat
and thirst was terrible. The salivary
and mucous secretions were dried up,
and the sensibility of the mucous
membranes of the mouth was so much
impaired that they could neither swal-
low nor even perceive when anything
was in the mouth. Brown sugar re-
manned like dry sand in the mouth.
Their voices became weak and strange;
all were deaf, and appeared stupid to
each other, questions having to be re-
peated several times before they could
be understood. Vertigo and dimness
of vision affected all. Many were de-
lirious, and all tottered on with feeble
and stumbling gait. What little
sleep they could get was disturbed by
dreams of banqueting, with visions of
every imaginable dainty to eat and
drink.
At this stage all would probably
have perished had they not resorted to
horses blood. As the animals gave
out the men cut them open and drank
their blood, almost fighting for the
little moisture contained in their Wis
cera. Later the horses blood became
so thick from lack of drink that it
could not be swallowed. 1t coagulat-
ed instantly, and had to be broken up
between the teeth and slowly forced
down the parched throats. And when
swallowed it gave no relief, quickly
passing through the bowels, develop
ing diarrhea. Their own scanty urine
was sweetened with sugar and thank
fully drunk, and few drank horses
urine. Usually, however, it was
caught in cups and given to the suf-
fering animals.
To avoid the terrible midday heat
they travelled as much as they could
by night. As they toiled on they
suffered severely from tightness of
breath and sense of suffocation. 1t
seemed as though the sides of the ira
chea were adhering. To mitigate the
consequent distress they breathed
through the nose with closed mouth,
prolonging the time between the
breaths as much as possible. At this
stage the lips were covered with a
whitish dry froth, and presented a
CHASTITY aspect. The fingers and palms
were shriveled and pale; and some who
had removed their boots suffered from
swollen feet and legs.
As the situation became more des-
perate, mental tortures were added to
the purely physical. The feeling of
despair was made worse by suspicion
and loss of confidence in each other.
Toward the end persistent wakeful-
ness aggravated the mental anguish,
though they tried to sleep at every
halt. At last, on the morning Of July
80, part of the command succeeded
in reaching Double Lakes, and a sup
ply of water was sent back to those
along the road. The fortunate arri-
val of a detachment of Yonkoway
scouts at this moment helped to save
On reaching water the desire
to drink was irresistible They could
not refrain from pouring down water,
though it was Immediately rejected
by the stomach. Warm coffee was
the only thing that revived them at all.
Assistant Surgeon King, from
whose report this account has been
remarks that the failure of
water to assuage the thirst, though
drunk again and again to repletion,
seems to show that the sense of thirst,
like that of hunger, resides not in the
stomach, but in the general system,
and could not be relieved until the re-
mote tissues were supplied. And the
activity Of the regenerating process
was prevented by the deficiency of
water in the absorbent vessels them
selves. The same condition explains
the overpowering dyspnea which
threatened the existence of the COM
pany. Their lungs were filed with
the purest air, yet the lining mem
branes were so dry that the free pas
sage of the oxygen to the blood was
prevented.
1t is a noteworthy circumstance
that while the horses suffered much as
the men did, and many gave out COM
pletely, the mules suffered little, and
were able to Craze at every halt. The
total loss on this disastrous scout was
two men dead and two missing, proba-
bly, dead, out of twenty-six privates
and two commissioned officers.