Wichita eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1886-1890, 1889-05-26
Special Correspondence to the Daily Eagle,

!
a very advanced age, and was buried a
Arlington, was model soldier, with ar
experience more striking and varied per
haps than fell to the lot of any other Of
his contemporaries. In the war with the
Seminoles, with Mexico, and in a long
series of vexatious conflicts with western
savages, he was the ideal soldier, bluff
hearty, active, brave, generous and just
In point Of physical excellence nc
man in the army could approach him. A
little over 80 years of age when the
writer first met him, he combined the
strength of a Hercules with the
grace of an Apollo. Considerably over
six feet in height, broad-shouldered,
straight as an arrow, with a well poised
head crowned with profusion of hair
| fast becoming snow white, his was a
| figure and bearing to compel the adj
miration of women and the envy of men.
1t was in December of 1860, Lincoln
had been chosen president. The spirit
of secession was rife throughout the
south, and murmers of the coming storm
were heard from the Potomac to the
gulf, and from the Atlantic to the Rio
Grande. South Carolina was preparing
to lead her sister states of the south on a
tragic crusade for the severance of that
union which her valor had helped to
establish
At this time series of lawless out
RACES along the eastern border of Kan
whole country. Honest though mis-
cd rhay
unknown ingredient in the varying
motives by which these disturbances
We're inspired; but to too large an ex-
by scoundrels, in the vain hope of Civ
glow of patriotism.
Missouri and Kansas shared the Op-
probrium of these outrages, until at last
the feeble pulses of President Buchanan
were stirred; and General Harvey, then
commanding the department with head
quarters at st. Louis, was ordered to
concentrate a sufficient force upon the
frontier for their suppression.
The writer was privileged, in his ca
pacity as newspaper man, to join Gen
eral Harvey at Kansas City, then giving
scarcely a suggestion of the magnificent
proportions it has since assumed. The
general had come from Fort Leaven-
worth, with, if correctly remembered
force Of dragons and a battery of artil-
lery.
Also accompanying this arrayswere two
men quite widely known and nearly, if
not quite, as widely detested, represent.
ing the civil arm of the government
These were United States Marshal Colby
and United States District Attorney
Davis. Colby left his formed bailiwick
on the admission of the territory into the
union, Joined the Confederacy, was asso-
ciated with the quartermasters depart
ment, subsequently, became involved
both financially and in a scandal, fed to
Europe and died there.
Davis was young New York lawyer
with a great facility of speech, but with
a limited endowment of legal learning.
He was an earnest champion of Buch-
anan's administration, and was cordially
hated by the more numerous adherents
of the Little Giant" He returned to
New York and afterward served with
success in the Union army. At the close
of his service he resumed his prac-
tice Of the law in Brooklyn and
also achieved local fame as a
Democratic politician. He died some
years since.
After this lapse of years it is impossi-
bic to recall with accuracy the details of
that leisurely march down the border,
sometimes ia Missouri and sometimes in
Kansas, Gen. Harvey and the civilians
accompanying him slept at night at lit
tie towns along the way, while the
troops camped in true military fashion.
On the march sharp lookout was kept,
as though the force were traversing an
enemy's country, and upon approaching
q strip of timber or other spot offering
facilities for an ambush scouts We're
thrown out and a careful reconnaissance
made
How wildly the remembrance of the
to Fort Scott, not then the
busy and thriving city it has since be-
come, comes back. lie was dark night,
and as the road wound along the shaded
banks of the Marmaton 1t seemed I'M
usually sombre. General Harvey and
the writer walked for a mile or more
along the road, preceding the ambulance,
and the gloomy way was beguiled by
of the old-time soldiers
career. These extended back to the
early part of the century and covered
years of personal friendship and associa-
ton with Andrew jackson, of Tennessee.
With this renowned man he had been on
terms of intimacy as close as the
difference in their ages would Justify.
He had met linn upon race-courses
and at county fairs, and in his presence
had participated in those athletic sports
for which his magnificent physique am
ply qualified him.
At last the welcome lights of Fort
Scott greeted the wayworn cavalcade,
and headquarters were promptly estab-
lished in one of the old structures that
had formerly been part of the govern
ment's military establishment,
Gen. Harvey displayed no precipitate
haste in entering upon the specific du- |
ties to which he had been assigned. He
was a soldier of the old school, and when |
action was not imperative |
he found it easy to adapt !
himself TO the amenities and |
of the bivouac as to the |
sterner exigencies of more martial en- |
ployment. His favorite tipple was hot |
whisky -toddy, and his body servant |
kept the water in the iron kettle con-
at boiling pitch for the benefit of |
his master and of all callers bibulously |
inclined.
The day after our arrival was devoted /
to the requirement of information from |
the local population, which was largely /
reinforced by people from the neighbor- /
ing country. At night public meeting
Was held, which was addressed by Gov. |
Medary, George A. Crawford and several
others. The speeches were pitched in an /
faI Eav = 49,,
that the "Jayhawkers" must be smitten |
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