Bismarck weekly tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1884-1943, 1890-07-18

ooALu Cul ully
concurred in this movement, and of course
he was to share the glory. So for three
long months Sully, with seven companies
of infantry and the famous Sherman bat
terry OF six pieces (Gen. w. Il. Sherman,
who was severely wounded at Shiloh during
was mail carrier. He had togo back with the
mail and leave it where another carrier
would come up and take it. John was in
good company while doing this work. He
was alone, with nobody to fear except the
cruel Ink Paducka and his active war
riors. But Gen. sully was looking otter
and he and John returned to Pierre. But
mo rest for the weary" was Johns lot.
Col. Francis proposed to John that they
take five companies down the river and at a
suitable place erect a fort. Francis said it
would be- III accordance with the wishes of
the war department and also a good piece
dams III check. So John acquiesced, and
by, boat they were transported to the site
selected for the fort, and Fort QRan.
dali became a historical post on
the river and in the country
III the winter OF 1855, when the sun vas
resting and the snow was deep, the cold
intense. the Ponca Indians got very rest
less and went hunting for their pale face
friends. Colonel Francis thought he and
John had better go after Big Drum, the
restless peace disturbing Ponca. 1t was
bad enough in the hot summer months to
be hunting Indians and glory in the great
American desert-at that time the sun was
not a boon cOmpanion-but to 60 down to
kunnlng Water-on ice-through snow
dritted i'll all the r%avines, and the spirit
thermometer 80 lsbelow zero, caused a
change of heart in John. He loved the
sun and wanted it to come back as a mill
tary necessity. But Colonel Francis said
"on men, on Big Drum and 200 follow
ers were gathered in and warmed, fed and
clothed. John regarded this enlightened
liberality Of the pale face as a new de-
parture for the war department, but was
too good a soldier to think out loud. He
did say to his frost bitten chum and bunky
on the cold ground, "Is this what we
walk, freeze and starve for? Is this the
brother will get there tirsu.' But a turn of
the wheel in the lottery of the army came
Johns way: Peace, sweet peace, rested on
the great American desert, and John sang
HAPPY day" at Fort Randall for two long
years-ratlons and pay regular and honors
easy.
Eighteen hundred and tifty-eight came.
The sun shone out in all his glory, with
heat on the side aco John was invited to take
turesque valleys snd over the pine clad
mountains to Fort Laramie. He fell
officer all the way over (the
reader will find rest in taking down
the map and tracing this little tramp
lS58-from Fort Randall to Fort Laramie,)
From the mountains peak John saw Lar
annie in the distance. 1t was as happy a
moment as the first sight OF New York.
The fort is reached and John sang "Rollo on
Silver Moon,' "The Morning Light is
breaking" and other inspiring stanzas.
He found rest here until December 20,
1859, when he received a parchment (that
ne now holds) and on it appears the words:
Expiration of term of enlistment of five
years; character good"
John, as a citizen, starts with a number
of other emancipated soldiers for Leaven-
worth, kan.. The sun is low. Jack Frost
is fixing things for Christmas. Santa
Claus must have snow for his reindeer
team and sleigh, and John was to taste as
a citizen what he d~etested as a soldier. 1t
was a cold trip, but at Leavenworth he
off to the states he sped, and visited his old
friends. He did not return to the sIedge
hammer and the anvil chorus. Peace
troubled his mind. War ana rumors of
war was music for John. The 4th OF July,
1860, was spent in the shadows of indie
pendence hall. The orators thrashed the
signed the roll of Company E, Second o. ).
infantry for five years. Company E was
commanded by Captain Steele, afterWard
General Steele. He was ordered to st,
Louis and transferred to his old company,
l, OF the same regiment. Capt. Joe F. Con-
rad. From there he Wen to Fort Kearney,
and eighty,four, men from Omaha. (The
reader should refer to the map
here. Fort Kearney is i'll the north
ern part of Wyoming. This was
in 1861. Here John remained unit! the
spring OF 1861, and back the command
marched to Leavenworth. Here Capt.
Steele, with three companies of the First
for Missouri, on a new field of action for
John. War had broken out in our own
country between our own citizens. The
first crack OF the gun John heard was at
Dug Springs. Next, John is in the battle
of Wilson's creek, where Gen. Nathaniel
ond infantry. was killed. Next, John is
with Fremont (the mar the recruiting SER
geant told him about). But Missouri is not
the field for the Second regiment. So off
to Washington they We're ordered. and
John enters Virginia. Now he is il for it.
He heard the lannon's roar at Williams
burg: was in the fight at Mechanlcsville, at
Malvern Hill, at second Bull Kun under
Pope, was at Antietam, at Shepardstown,
at Fredericksburg. at charlottesville, at
Gettysburg lin this fight two commanding
officers and three sergeants of his company
We're either killed or wounded and a cor
poral commanded the eight remaining men
OF the company. He was at the battles In
the wilderness and at Coal Harbor, and
soon after the troops of the Second were
r%eorganized and John became a recruiting
sergeant "a man like the one who told him
the fairy tales way back in 1854. On the
25th of July, 1866, John received a parch-
mtnt, which he now holds, bearing these
words: discharged by reason of expira-
ton of second enlistment of five years."
and in a holder handwriting the words:
"a brave, honest, faithful soldier" signed
by his commander. Lieut.. Lacey.
John spent ten years in different parts of
the country-from Boston to New Orleans
Singing the hammer and playing the
anvil chorus, and in 1870 he revisited Fort
Randall, and was there married. From
there he went to Buford as a blacksmith.
There he met Mathew Cunan, the stone
mason, now a resident of Bismarck. He
was on the river at Randall and other forts
until 1876. when the soldier spirit broke out
again. This was at the time of the dis
covery of gold in the Black Hills, before
the Terry expedition after Sitting Bull
before the Custer massacre. Hot times to
enlist at Cheyenne, Yates, Leavenworth OF
Buford. He enlisted in the Seventeenth in.
I fantrv and Sorva6 ar tho rhovappo ooonoy