The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1888-06-11
GEN. sHERIDANs EARLY CAREER.
Incidents of His Service as a Second
Leutenclt in the Far Northwest.

AhSA00AVS vi 11AS o6IFlC6 as q second
Lieutenclt in the Far Northwest.
From the Nete York Sun.
During the last few days many incidents
in Gen. Sheridan's military life have been
recalled, and some have been spoken of that
have never yet been given to the public.
Among the most interesting of these are
incidents of his service in Oregon and
Washington Territory, where he was on
duty for half dozen years before the out
break of the civil war. He arrived there as
a second lieutenant at a turning point in the
history of the two Territories, which had
just begun to attract attention again, after
pause in their settlement during the
period elapsing since the massacre of DR..
Whitman and his associates III Walla Walla
valley toward the end of the year 1917. The
| region had only few thousand people, scat
tered along its coast and its great rivers.
Lleut. Sheridan'S duties were in the neigh
| Dorhood Of the Columbia, and particularly
near two points known as the Cascades and
| the Dallas, the former being the spot where
| the river which rises in the Rocky Noun
talnS breaks through the Cascade Range in
| Its course toward the sea, and the latter
forty or fifty miles further east, where &C
cording to the expressive saying, the river
turns on its edge" The Columbia is fed by
various streams, very familiar in the annals
OF indian warfare-among them the Snake,
| willamette, Walla Walla, Wenachee, Des-
| chutes, and John Day. Then as now they
swarmed with salmon, while the land was
stocked with game. Railroads were of
course at that time wholly unknown there,
and indeed more than n dozen years later
there were only twenty miles of rail in
operation in the territory.
a Dragon who served under Sheridan at
that period tells some stories of his career at
the far northwest. 1t is interesting, by the
way, to note that Sheridan, though an in
tantry officer, was assigned to the charge
of a small detachment of dragons, as if in
foretokening of his future fame as a cav
alryman. One of his duties was to make
march from Fort Reading to the north side
of the Columbia river. This was accom-
plshed without serious opposition, except
at one point in the Modoc country, where
the Indians fired upon the party, but with
out wounding anybody The ex-dragoon
remembers that, at Klamath Lake, Lieut.
Sheridan deserted a canoe on an island,
and, i'll order to take possession of it, and to
discover whether it was a clue to anything
else, himself waded through the river and
captured it, one man accompanying him on
either side.
Another expedition in which Lieut.. Sheri-
dan took part was into the Yakima country.
While thus engaged on one occasion he was
ordered to cross a stream in order to scout
against Indians supposed to be on the OPP
posite shore He executed this order by
placing an infantry sharp-shooter in the
saddle behind each cavalryman. The stream
was not deep but rapid. and two artillery
men who followed with the howtzer, were
drowned in crossing. The dragon who
recalls this incident says he remembers his
discharging his piece without aiming, and
that Lieut.. Sheridan chided him for having
fired before he knew what he was firing at.
A Cayuse scout employed by Sheridan on
this expedition was known as Cut-Mouth
John, and on one occasion an Indian called
out to him to know if he would talk. John
replied ferocously, "I'll kill you first and
talk afterwards" The dragoon adds that
he was as good as his word, and got his
enemy's scalp, which he stretched that
night with hoop and things, having little
scalp dance around it by himself. John
used to be on good terms with all the officers,
but after Major Rains ordered him to bury
that scalp, he sulked and had nothing more
to do with them. This was the only Indian
known to be killed on this expedition"
On arriving at Yakima mission orders
were received to proceed with Col Nesmith
and party of volunteers toward White
river or Natchez pass Maj. Maloney was
| supposed to be coming from Fort Steilacoom,
on Puget sound, to hem in the Indians from
the north. 1t was showing furiously, and
the dragons crossed Bald Hill in a cold
storm, Lieut.. Sheridan and all his men
being compelled to dismount and lead the
horses. Further progress being impossible,
and Maj. Maloney not being met the com
mand returned to the Dallas and camped
on Mill creek in tents. The dragons were
camped a short distance above the fort,
which was rebuilding under Capt Jordan.
Maj. Halter was in general command, and
the soldiers, says the dragon. used oc-
caslonally to trouble him by raiding on his
hogs"
The events thus spoken of occurred during
the autumn of 1855, or little more than
two years after Gen. Sheridan's graduation
at West Point.