Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1889-11-14


skeletons of the two couriers. bleaching
on the hillside In -tiss svintry sun. where
they had undoubtedly been dragged from
the tres where they feT:. by wolves!
We covered their. .bones with rocks and
on the next trip to Fort Dodge carried
them thither and buried tn EN- in tn, little
cemetery there with the ceremony OF the
Christian church.
After the war closed the Indians told
how. .uthsN axartook the. eouriers 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 reEef must be sent to him. for it was
certain that by this time his supplies were
exhausted. One evening General Sher-
idan sent for me and we talked over th g
situation. He said he would send a large
train load of forage and commissary 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 OF course 1 was delighted with the
Generals propositions; besides 1 should
see my family, from whom / had been sep
arated more than ayear, and this fact was
the greatest of my prospective pleasure
So as soon as could leave his presence I
rushed out to convey the news of my good
fortune to the rest of the officers and I
celebrated by breaking case of wine
with them at the suit 'er's 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: II shall not feel safe about
it unless you are in charge, and have
concluded you must CO." -
thanked him for the compliment and
his confidence, and after smoking and
chatting with him for half an hour-it
was now after night retired to think OF
my preparations for the journey.
The next day 1 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
at this late day. l was to proceed beyond
the Canadian and go into cam p on the edge
of the Panhandle of Texas, near the
battlefield of the 9th of November. to send
my scouts out daily on tours of observa-
on the highest peaks in the vicinity as
signals to the lost command under the
gallant Custer.
It was q delightful spot, about two
miles from the scene of Black Kettles
defeat, and when we established our camp
there the March moon was approaching
its full. The ponies killed by Custer after
the fight were piled up into a huge wind
row, as it were, against the wall of a little
canyon on the oppo site side of the historic
creek from where the fated Indian village
had stood. Their flesh had not yet all
disappeared, though the wolves had been
fattening on them and the dead warriors
for nearly three months.
The region in which we were then
camped was the habitat of our noblest in
digenous American b I'll, the wild turkey,
and we lived upon them during our So
journ of fifteen or sixteen days. To en-
ploy a slang phrase-for the wild turkey
makes its haunts in the timber-''the woods
were full of them. " and shooting them by
moonlight from their roosts in the trees
was grand sport, and as many as twenty
or thirty in one evening was a common
affair. But there were many mouths to
feed, as the command numbered nearly q
thousand. East Of where our camp of OBJ
servation was located, is another favorte
rendezvous of this magnificent bird,
known even to-day as "Sheridau'S Roost."
But whether any of the bronzsd BEAUTIES
may be found there now, twenty years
since it was named in honor of the Gen.
erals remarkable luck in bagging SO many
one night, do not know, but the proba-
bility is that few remain if they have not
entirely disappeared since the madding
crowd of immigration has invaded the
West everywhere until there is no longer
any frontier. Our cressets on the mount
ain tops, emulatng the sacred "estufas"
of the Aztecs, were kept constantly burn
ing, my orders from General Sheridan
required. They were literally ''a cloud
by day and pillar of fir. by night"
like those which guided the Israelites of
old acr oss the desert, and like them, they
guided the wandering troops to their
haven, for on the evening of the fourteenth
day after our arrival the companies of the
lost Seventh cavalry came struggling in,
and by noon of the third afterwards, all
of them. including the gallant Custer and
his staff, had reached US.
reported to him at once, turned over the
welcome supplies and forage to his half
starved horses and men, and with his per-
Supply and the north. The war was now
over; the Indians could not recover from
the severe blows inflicted upon them dur.
ing General Sheridan's short but brilliant
winter campaign, and on the oath of De-
cember the allied tribes surrendered to
him Internationally, submitting to all The
stipulations demanded by the Govern
ment and pledging them selves to forever
keep the peace.
General Sheridan kept as hostages sew
eral of the principal chiefs until all the
white captives in the possession of the va
rious bands of Indians were given up to
him unharmed, which being accompl shed
he turned the warriors loose The long
and cruel contest between the savages and
pioneer settlers of the State bad covered
in the aggregate q period of six years, at
the cost of the lives of q thousand
Of Kansas citizens and the destruction Of
their property to the value of more than q
million dollars.
After a lapse of so many years it is pos.
sible that some anachronisms may have
crept into these "reminiscences, for am
writing purely from. memory, except the
letter, one of several before me, above
quoted; but the occurrences are all as
stated.
And So when the bronze statue of he.