The Iola register., 1889-11-22

dred or more cartridge shells. and short
broken spear, and suspended from one ol
guined trunk.
Riding away from this horrid pictura
out on the prairie half q mile distant
from the stream, we found the CHASTITY
skeletons of the two couriers, bleaching
on the hillside in the wintry sun, whers
they had undoubtedly been dragged from
the tree where they fell, by wolves!
We covered their bones with rocks and
on the next trip to Fort Dodge carried
them thither and buried them in the little
cemetery there with the ceremony Of the
Christian church.
After the war closed the Indians told
how they overlook the couriers at the
creek. where they stood at bay under the
shadow of the bloody tree until overpow.
cred by twenty times their number-but not
until they had killed the three whose graves
we had found in the sand hills and NOR.
tally wounded him whom we found dead
in the isolated tepee.
Custer left with his command, to which
was now addeI the Nineteenth Kansas,
for the region far to the south of the Ca.
madam, just as soon as his men and ami.
mails had rested from the effects Of their
struggle and forced march in the cold and
snow of the 9th.
The weeks dragged along and no word
came from him. He was lost evidently,
and relief must be sent to him, for it vas
certain that by this time his supplies were
exhausted. One evening General Sher-
idan sent for me and we talked over the
situation. He said he would send q large
train load of forage and conmissary stores
south in the morning, but that as / had
been in the field constantly since October
he would detail Major - for that duty
and could return north. accompanying
him. or course l was delighted with the
Generals proposition; besides l should
see my family, from whom had been sep
arated more than year, and this fact was
the greatest of my prospective pleasure.
30 as soon as 1 could leave his presence |
rushed out to convey the news of my good
fortune to the rest of the officers and
celebrated by breaking case OF wine
with them at the suffers tent. But no
sooner had we finished discussing the
pleasant subject than General Sheridan
sent for me again and said he had been
revolving the matter in his mind, that it
was an important mission, and his own
words were: 81 shall not feel safe about
1t unless you are in charge, and have
concluded you must CO."
/ thanked him for the compliment and
his confidence, and after smoking and
with him for half an hour-it
was now after night-I retired to think Of
my preparations for the journey.
The next day left for the south. My
orders from the General were verbal, with
the exception of one that was sealed, and
am not permitted to quote it here, even
1t this late day. / was to proceed beyond
the Canadian and go into cam p on the edge
,f the Panhandle of Texas, near the
of the 9th of November, to send
ny scouts out daily on tours of observa-
ion and to keep fires constantly burning
On the highest peaks in the vicinity as
signals to the lost command under the
gallant Custer.
1t was a delightful spot, about two
niles from the scene of Black Kettles
iefeat, and when we established our camp
here the March moon was approaching
is full. The ponies killed by Custer after
he fight were piled up into huge wind.
'ow, as it were, against the wall Of a little
canyon on the opposite side Of the historic
,reek from where the fated Indian village
had stood. Their flesh had not yet all
though the wolves had been
on them and the dead warriors
tor nearly three months.
The region in which we were then
,ampei was the habitat of our noblest in.
iigenous American bird, the wild turkey,
and we lived upon them during our So
iourn of fifteen or sixteen days. To en-
ploy a slang phrase-for the wild turkey
makes its haunts in the timber-'the woods
we're full of them" and shooting them by
from their roosts in the trees
vas grand sport, and as many as twenty
,r thirty in one evening was q common
affair. But there were many mouths to
eed, as the command numbered nearly q
thousand. East of where our camp Of OBJ.
ervation was located, is another favorite
rendezvous of this magnificent bird,
Inown even to-day as "Sherdan's Roost"
But whether any of the bronzed beauties
nay be found there now, twenty years
ince it was named in honor of the Gen.
'ral's remarkable luck in bagging SO many
me night do not know, but the proba-
,ility is that few remain il they have not
entirely disappeared since the madding
,rowd Of immigration has invaded the
Vest everywhere, until there is no longer
my frontier. Our cressets on the mount.
lin tops, emulating the sacred "estufas"
If the Aztecs, were kept constantly burn.
ng, as my orders from General Sheridan
'equired They were literally "a cloud
~ day and a pillar of fra by night"
ike those which guided the Israelites Of
I'D across the desert, and like them, they
guided the wandering troops to their
raven, for on the evening of the fourteenth
lay after our arrival the companies of the
ost Seventh cavalry came struggling in,
Ind by noon of the third afterwards, all
II them, including the gallant Custer and |
lis staff, had reached us.
reported to him at once, turned over the |
Welcome supplies and forage to his half
tarved horses and men, and with his per-
mission departed next morning for Camp |
supply and the north. The war was now |
,ver: the Indians could not recover from |
he severe blows inflicted upon them dur |
ng General Sheridan's short but brilliant |
winter campaign, and on the oath of De. |
ember the allied tribes surrendered to |
i'm Internationally. submitting to all the |
al &ho