The Iola register., 1889-11-15
SHERIDAN IN KANSAS.
The Last ctru rgle Of tho Red Men
on Kansas Soil
"Reminiscences of Little rhir and His
Famous Troopers.

Rem,ni.ccnce. of Little rhrl" and His
Famous Troopers.
Many skirmish s with d. tachei Lands OF
the savages occurred during the summer
previous to the Inauguration OF the winter
campaign. the principal among which
were: Captain Arms encounter on Aug.
ust Il with about eight hundred allied
warriors on the Republican river. Arms
had only q scouting party OF one hundred
and ffty men Of his own regiment tho
Tenth Regular (colored) Cavalry. He
foueht all that day AMI until the evening
of the 22d, when under cover OF the dark.
ness he was forced to retreat to Fort
Harker. having exhausted his ammunition,
losinr three Of his soldiers and forty
horses, after killing a many Indians, how.
ever. as his total force amounted to. Major
Moore's fight on the 31,h of the same
month with the same bani, which he de-
feated. His troops were Of the Eighteenth
Ksnsas Volunteers (the number under his
command do not remembsr) A portion
OF the identical bsnl was met a few days
after by Major Elliott, of the Seventh
Regular Cavalry, and driven towards the
head Of the Republican. On the 7th Of Sep.
tember, General Alfred Suliy, famous
Indian fighter, with nine companies Of Gus.
ter's celebrated regiment, was ordered by
General Sheridan TO make a raid On the
families and stock Of the Cheyennes and
Arapahoes. in order to draw back
to their reservations the warriors
of these tribes who were north
maraading. The camps of the women
and children were supposed to be
south, on the Beaver, Wolf or Canadian.
On the 2lst Sully met a war party and
killed seventeen; he was few days after.
wards confronted by an overwhelming
number. and, carefully skirmishing with
them, was compelled to retreat to near the
mouth of the Mulberry, some twelve miles
east Of Fort Dodge, south Of the Arkansas;
there he ma de stand, on the exact spot
where Fords City, in Ford County, 10
located. But his ammunition was soon
exhausted and the now classic spot would
have been a veritable '1ast ditch" had not
the gallant Colonel Keogh ran the gauntlet
OF the ever-watchful savages with a small
detachment of his troop under cover Of
the darkness. and. safely reaching Fort
Dodge, returned next morning with m
abundant supply, upon the arrival and
distribution Of which among the almost
worn out command the Indians were
routed. Lastly, the fight of General George
A. Forsyth, just over the Nebraska line, on
the Arrickarse fork Of the Republican, the
most terrible Indian battle that ever took
place on the continent. 1t commenced on
the 11th Of September and lasted eight
days. The little command, comprising
only 6fty civilian scouts. was suddenly
surrounded by thousand warriors under
the famous Chief Roman Nose, whose
terrific charges upon the handful Of de.
termined men with his phalanxes OF we'll.
drilled savages and their repeated repulse
by the unerring aim and GOODNESS of the
former have never been excelled in all the
history Of Indian warfare. 1t was during
this awfully unequal conflict that Lieut..
enant Beecher, OF tbs Third Infantry, .
nephew of the celebrated Brooklyn
preacher, was killed.
Early in November Gsneral Sheridan
again moved his headquarters to Fort
Hays. which point the railroad had just
reached, thus shortening the distance that
supplies and forage would have to be
transported by wagons more than seventy
miles, and there the troops and munitions
Of war for the impending conflict were
concentrated. But long before that date
from Fort Harker-which had been the
great distributing depot for all the military
posts, including the whole territory As far
west as large portion of Arizona
millions of pounds of corn,
oats and commissary stores had
been deposited at Fort Dodge,
on the Arkansas, it having been desig.
mated by General Sheridan in his plans as
one Of the bases Of supplies. All the army
mule trains that could be spared from the
various posts IN the great district and all
the overland freighters' outfits that could
be gathered were hired for this service,
aggregating thousands of animals and
wagons
General Sheridan at once saw, at the
very beginning of hostiiities, that with
the limited number of available troops of
the regular army at his command he could
not successfully wage a defensive, much
less an offensive, war in the immense
region it would nece ssarily include, and
he was authorized, at his suggestion, by
General Sherman to call on the Governor
Of Kansas for regiment of cavalry, to
be mustered into the service of the United
States for six months; and, accordingly,
Governor s. j. Crawford's proclamation
calling for this regiment was issued Octo.
Der 10, 1868. and was answered. promptly
by the very flower of the States young
men. 1t was designat.d I'd as the Nineteenth
Kansas, and was mustered into the service
at Topeka on the 20th, only ten days after
the call, SO promptly did the people re-
spond to the demand of the alarmed and
suffering settlers on the frontier.
The famous Dave L Payne, who was
sometimes known as ''the Scout of the
Cimarron" and afterwards of Oklaho.
ma notoriety, was Captain of company
H in this Nineteenth Kansas Cavalry.
Governor Crawford resigned his Office of
chief magistrate to take command, and on
the 5th of November left Topeka for the
Indian country, marching by the most di-
rect route to the point of junction of tho
Beaver and Wolf rivers, called Camp
Supply, and the principal base OF opera.
tions in the Indian Territory selected by
General Sheridan for that purpose. The
command crossed the Arkansas on the
18th where it flows through what il now
Harvey County, and when the vicinity OF
Medicine Lodge was reached after
leaving thar stream, it encountered one of
those awful so-cilled "blizzards" which
came sweeping down from the north in all
its suddenness and characteristic blood
curdling fury. This regiment became
nearly demoralized by the terrible cold
and binding snow. They lost a large
number of their horses, camp equipage
and supplies in the fearful storm, but at
last arrived safely, though many were on
foot and suffering. at the cantonment on
the Wolf river, about the end of
the month, where General Sheridan
and his whole force had estab.
lished their quarters soms days before.