Fort Worth weekly gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1890-05-08
MOLD INDIAN FIGHTER.
sr,tch of the Life of General
Crook.
ny CAPT. CHARLES KING.

Crook.
CAPT, CHARLES KING.
rcopyrighted 1880 by the Author.I
r..e boys around here who had been mas
Zinc as Indians, scouts, or soldiers, and
Irey Gen. Crook as famous Indian
f ss.,, we're gravsly concerned and even dis
IL ,rbeB the news OF his sudden death
t. them fortnight ago. They had been
ling forward to see him here during the
49, -,ortb. and we're wondering whether he
P5IS he induced for their benefit to put on the
t93l- limiting suit he generally wore when
ou ~ tnijsOme marches and campaigns.
" "a r5Tr the bows who read these columns may
~. IN hear something of this brave and faith
~ ~ Iiis- 2 man who east of the Missouri was
Ilits-5Iy less known than any of our generals;
.esi Of il held higher rank in the hearts Of
~ s-,'rsopla probably than all the others COM
~ he was at first glance less like boys
tje. Of q general than any soIdler ever E new
~ nm had ever seen, as used 20 see, Gen
soti in the DAYS Of his magnlhcence before the
80 ~, +-sr Won would have been even more
s1s-,s5 al the contrast between his appearance
ST5 hat Of the general whom he have SO re-
t fs5rre Crook went from Ohio ITO West Poiptl
49, al fbp close of the Mexican war, sly, retf-e
IN awkward country lad not at all smart OF,
rariularlv promising as soldier. 1here VIZ
bsrk-ryed shOrt-legged fellow from PeFrgf
INIT Ohio who entered at the same time,
e gu tssse too bows from the Buckeye state
sssned to pull together from the start. They
,o5red together in barracks, and had no easy
,iDs NJ getting through the examinations. In
saei h takes hard work 10 get through West
Paint even at tine foot of the class, and in
those DAYS not more than one-third of the num-
b1y Who entered together would be found on
he class rolls at graduation: Those two
were always down near the foot: neither of
Them ever succeeded in being made even cor
Uoial in the battalion OF cadets, and one of
iben-tbe little fellow-had to fall back an en-
tire rear for losing his temper and pitching into
Cadet Sergeant Terrill, who reprimanded him
for something that went wrong in the ranks.
Yeas afterwsrd Gen. Terrill was killed at the
battle Of PeTyville, fighting hard side. by side
with another young brigadier-the boy who
pitched into him at West Point. and whose
name was Philip Sheridan.
But the two Buckeye boys got into the same
rpgiment-the old Fourth infantry. Sheridan
found his former roommate there when he
joined year later, and together they began
their soldier lives far out on the Pacific coast,
fighting the Indians of Washington and Oregon
territories. Just about the time they joined
there a quaint, quiet sort Of fellow-the
junior captain in the regiment-who was grad
ualed at the Point only ten years before Sher-
idan, but the Mexican war had made promotion
v5Ty rapid, and this captain was Fl ON Ohio too;
bat he did not seem to like soldering in peace
times. Sam Grant, as they called him, resigned
and went TO farming in Missouri, and then
moved to Illinois, and when the great war broke
out and he wrote a modest letter to the war de-
paItment, rendering his services, he was SO lit
lie thought Of that the letter was tossed aside
and never turned up again; but the
writer did three years afterward as Gen
tial-in-chef Of the immense armies of the |
llon, bat nobody then called him Sam Grant. |
Lieutenant Crook, or Mr.. Crook-for in the |
Regular army the title Lieutenant is spoken only /
By the enlisted men-was from the very first |
keen hunter and sportsman. When he wasn't |
after Indians he was always in the open air for |
game. Soon 1t was remarked that he was n |
Eunaeriul shot; then people noticed how cntir- |
ing ne was. Fatigue and he never seemed to |
Know each other He would wear out Indian /
Eudes and cowhide boots in equal proportion.
ne was soon recognized as so keen Judge of /
Indian character that when only q first lieuten-
inl be was sent in command of an expedition
Aganst the Pitt river tribe and thrashed them
GUY OF their moccasns, though they put an arrow
through him to start with. By the time the war
. stoke out there was no man in the Fourth infan-
ny Eho knew more about the red men on the
laene slope than Crook. He did hard service |
IN virginia ana Tennessee during the war, got
nVlAlef again, Of course, and rose to be a corps |
syl9ander. But 1t was on the frontier that he
W.. wOh ms great name, ard thither he was sent the
moment the war was over, TO thrash the Snake |
IIilalans Of Idaho: afterward to tackle the
n.auOcEs and Piutes, then to go down to Ari-
,gas sha sec what he could do with the ApachesE
way IAd whipped everything sent against them.3
~. ~ MAO been too much for three gem
e.sS, me Quakers and the Peace society, L
combined. Crook knocked them endwise in one 4
~ -a-P4sn and was made rigadier-generali IN a
-. .esU!Ar army for doing it. But he did il SyFi
ttaAns Tue held himself and showing his troops
$500 "a" " nEht mountain Indians. All the other
sfluelAs mad sent out their men, while they |
H. 5sliselIes Stald at home and criticised. Then
sr3 sSCSSytlinent ordered him to fight the Sioux
-. s5snleS' and the war of 1876 was the |
s s,Tsst indian campaign ever fought on the
S So.uglli but you have heard all about II. The
,e1t q, ',s never taken the warpath since, ex
.r5 c - W. aliles The Nez Perces, the South
M y lelnes, the Utes and the Apaches have |
= nau lneir savage tusses since that year and
1sr, ~ Sase the trouble began in the depart
',j- VI some other general. His last great cam
b,Sn, S. Is against the Chiricahuas Of Arizona,
- the Wllds OF the Sierra Madre noun |
M Ssinlyher cavalry could hardly follow them,
N ~ ~ ~ ne chased into the heart of Old Mex
M nv lought back as prisoners. Some Of them
mai bsnS gan ,a three years afterward-only
- - uanu' 70 be sure, and three times their |
~ remained Ioyal to the government ANAL
nyaip,b,II SIuok 10 tight the hostiles, and did
~, 80 service; and Geronimo, the savage
nyboSr -iu never have been taken by Crook or (.
fisr lie T ase,,. without their aid. But.
copts II IN Arizona. these loyaI
ouaIiy 'S ~ sent away TO prison and punished
Sor cyy., sItn the renegades, and prisoners the
onno bs5 IS Ss, aie yei Think OF it, boys. Ge-
5ev w.. lAu only some thirty warriors; he and
nbr,sc+sSS sem from the Arizona mountains and
ilns ~ ~ IN Florida. so were the eighty In
ben re , naa 9een faithful to the government.
erpon S,r meIs al! moved together TO Mount
iauv ~ S" tracks in Southern Alabama, where
q s,' ~ tlen have died in confinement. This
and - ulng Gen Crook could never under ,
lepi go; ~ reeoncled to, and his last days were
ID 6ee7 Nv 70 nave justice done to them who
:, surrender. anu Aiiies AMER 'helr
Inai5,yDu nave nave always thought of him only as
II pastjsiIis 9ller, but there is where yoti are
e Indian B, ,59iormed-he was the best friend
tiger Wbs1 I1 ~ and though he would fight like
q bis ut,la ~ ere was lighting to be done, he
z ana $50 sUst 70 make the Indian self-support-
uugbt y, IeSpectlrg when once he had been | !
d revere 4. 'tstins. What they learned TO love
yer brots4 nih was that, great or small, he
ELF, ana !. promise. His word was truth
9 BriiisL- - iast all over the continent from
issouri IA ~ possessions to the gulf, from the
osn ma Seae Faeifc, no general was so well =
ook. IOfed by the red men as George
ass N, arizona that we first served under
Il our rea; our Lessons in m ountain scouting q
yoniug efnsnlent followed him TO Nebraska. Il
'ithwssf 49, Montana, all over the great a
ssms Ina wherever we went he was iust y
feIS Always the leader. always with ne in s.
never ssu, "Gys In the worn old hunting dress | Y
sht go nm in uniform, bows. until tho .
last looL a. SSnicago two weeks ago to have | :
STATE. with III ne general loved and be lay
q and ST.. LIS guard Of honor around him,
'aly, een,ioat In DEATH Always simple
lsiderste :, &C ohlcer or man, always lust and |
ION WITH NJ avs sharing every peril or pri- -
u did tbsy as troops, and faring no better 81
weeks ~ We went without tents All the
INST the sio' our tough campaign and chase
're h Jl.s9ux in '76, sleeping on tie onen q
Z fanisbed * ram at times. and eating our ~
sls; but hhorses TO keep ourselves alive AZ ~
e sssi AZ he, general and his STAFF officers =
q Tie cro,sy on as anybody else, and to II
sacies fror ~ you could hardly have told the y
lllor-Vena.ssinee private soldier. He rose 10 a,
eOntennas-.l TWO years ago, when his friend =
We serTisss.O Gen. Terry, retired from u
: strongly SO SO though we ali honored andel.,.
sq ;dden or tTuSged ff BEHIND bss r snSse esT
had grown to regard him 81 5.