The Democratic press. [volume] (Ravenna, O. [Ohio]) 1868-1901, 1885-02-12
RACE FOR LIFE.
Ned Buntline's RPcOIlections OF an Inter
esting Episode.


The JFOrlfS ment' on of the veteran
General Harney and h recent marriage
We're read hy me with interest. Four
airs hard Servic. with him in the
Florida war. and nearly two n Mex co.
closely associated with him - oSt of the
time. q We me IL T. CHIT to a knowledge
of him as he was.
In 1881. when | was a NJ dshipman,
acting Lieutenant on board the United
States schooner OtSegO, on the Florida
coast, he was Lieutenant Colonel OF the
S'ronH United States Dragons, under
Colonel Twiggs. 1t WAS the only cav
airy regiment in the war, and Phil
Kearney, Charlie May and Billy Fulton,
the father of Chandos Fulton, promi-
nent now in your city, were then in the
regiment.
Harney looked every inch a soldier,
and he : ood 5 X feet three inches in his
boots. He was not hand ONE. He was
stalwart, manly, ever impetuous in
word and action.
In 1889 he had post with two COM
panies of the Second Dragons on the
Caloosahat h river, about ten or tif-
teen miles above its mouth. 1t enters
the Gulf of Mexico at Sanabel Island.
The men were mostly in tents. There
was small stockade. a suffers store
and temporary storehouse in the en-
campment.
In the middle of hot night forget
the precise date-the Seminoles, num-
bering three or four hundred. under Ar
piaka. the tish-eater, and b lily Bowlegs,
surprised the post. Colonel Harvey, in
consequence of the heat and mosquitoes,
had taken his blankets and left h
quarters to sleep on knoll on the river
bank, where the cool breeze swept over
the water This alone saved h life.
He was awakened in the dead of night
by the yells of the Indians, the firing of
guns and the shrieks of his dying men.
Harney, in his shirt and drawers
without weapon, could only run for
his life. Capture would be death by the
cruelest torture. He ran down the river,
through the dense swamp, the Indian
yells filling the night air. and he believ-
ing them close OH his trail. For miles
he kept on. the scanty clothes he wore
torn all to tatterS on the branches as
he plunged through the brush. and fast
as he went he heard a crash behind
h m. He was pursued. At last, breath
less, worn out SO he could run NO fur
ther, he halted and turned. give his
own words to me of what then occur
red:
Il heard the red cusses close onto
me, | knew it was death. but thought
I'd die game. | squared OFF, clinched
my fists and shouted, Come on, you
red devils, d-n You, come on. How
ly saints, is it you. kernel?' cried one
Of my own men, the only man beside
me that escaped, as he halted within
my reach. | was that mad. to be so
s'ared by white man, that 1 knocked
him down on the spot! It's fact.
Then | felt ashamed of my act, picked
him up and told him | was sorry!'
The two then crawled on through the
swamp and got down by daylight to
Sanabel Island. swimming across the
narrow channel to its sandy shore. The
next day we ran in there for water in
the Otsego and found Harney aud his
soldier almost stark naked on the beach,
both hungry and thirsty, hut thankful
for life.
And this is known in Florida war his
tory as the ''Massac e on the Ca!uosa-
hatchie." The reason of the surprise
was, that there was temporary truce
between the Indians and whites, and,
fearing no danger, the sentinels were
few and careless. After that Harney
planned and carried out raid into the
Everglades, in which twenty-seven buck
Indians were killed or captured-and
all of them hung as soon as in our hands.
We captured about thirty squaws and
children. who were held as. prisoners
till sent West. | was on the raid. In
it the late General Ord was shot
through the shoulder. He was then a
Second Liutenant in the Third Artillery
General Sherman, nov retired, was .
First Lieutenant in the same regiment
nt tho timo Nam KnrE WnrId