Savannah courier. (Savannah, Tenn.) 1885-1979, 1888-07-19
SHERIDAN IN 1855.
accidents of His Service as Lieutenant in
the Far Northwest

Incidents of His Service as Lieutenant in
the Far Northwest.
Many incidents in General Sheridan's
military life have recently been re-
called, 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 be-
lore the outbreak of the civil war. He
arrived there as Second Lieutenant
at 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
clapsing since the massacre of DR..
Whitman and his associates in Walla
Walla valley toward the end of the
year 1917. This region had only
few thousand people, scattered along
Its coast and its great rivers.
Lieutenant Sheridan's duties were in
the neighborhood Of the Columbia, and
particularly near two points known as
the Cascades and the Dalles, the form
err being the spot whore the river which
rises in the Rocky mountains breaks
through the Cascade range in its course
toward the sea, and the latter forty or
fifty miles further east, where, accord
ing to the expressive saying, the river
turns on its edge" The Columbia IS
fed by numerous streams, very familiar
in the annals of Indian warfare
among them the Snake, Willamette,
Walla Walla, Wenachee, Deschutes 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 dozen
years later there were only twenty
miles of rail in operation in the Terri
tory.
A dragoon who served under Sheridan
at that period tells some stories of his
career at the far Northwest. 1t is in
teresting, by the way, to note that
Sheridan, though an infantry officer,
was assigned to the charge of small
detachment of dragons, as if in a
foretokening of his future fame as a
cavalryman. One of his duties was to
make a march from Fort Reading to
the north side of the Columbia river.
This was accomplished without serious
opposition, except at one point in the
Modoc country, where the Indians fired
upon the party, but without wounding
any body The ex-dragoon remem-
bers that, at Klamath lake, Lieutenant
Sheridan deserted canoe on an
island, and, in order to discover wheth-
or it was clue to any thing else, him
self waded through the river and
captured it, one man accompanying
him on either side.
Another expedition in which Lieu
tenant Sheridan took part was in the
Yakima country. While thus engaged
on one occasion he was ordered tC
cross stream in order to scout against
Indians supposed to be on the opposite
shore. He executed this order by plac
ing an infantry sharpshooter in thu
saddle behind each cavalryman. The
stream was not deep, but rapid, ant
two artillerymen, who followed will
the howitzer, were drowned in cross
ing. The dragon who recalls this in
cident says he remembers discharg
ing his piece without aiming, and tina
Lieutenant Sheridan chided him fo
having fired before he knew what h,
was firing at. A Cayuse scout EN-
ployed by Sheridan on this expedition
was known as Cut-Mouth John, and or
one occasion an Indian called out t.
him to know if he would talk" JOIN
replied ferociously: 'Il kill yoV
first and talk afterward." The dra
goon adds that he was as good as hi
word, and got his enemy's scalp, whicl
he stretched that night with a hoo
and things. having little scalp dane
around it by himself. John used to b
on good terms with all the officers, bu
after Major Rains ordered him to bur
that scalp he sulked and had nothin
more to do with them. This was tn
only Indian known to be killed on thi
expedition.
On arriving at Yakima Mission
orders were received to proceed wit
Colonel Nesmith and party OF yolut
teers toward White river or Natche
Pass. Major Maloney was supposed t
be coming from Fort Steilacoom, o
Puget sound, to hem in the Indian
from the north. 1t was showing fur
ously, and the dragons crossed Bal
Hill in cold storm, Lieutenant Sher
dan and all his men being compelled {
dismount and lead the horses. Furthe
progress being impossible, and Majc
Maloney not being met, the comman
returned to the Dalles and camped o
Mill creek in tents. The dragoor
were camped short distance aboy
the fort, which was rebuilding undo
Captain Jordan. Major Halter was j
general command, and the soldier
says the dragon, FUSED occasional
to trouble him by raiding on his hogs
The events thus spoken of occurre
during the autumn of 1855, or lit
more than two years after Generi
Sheridan's graduation at West Point
Washington Letter
No Change in the Force.