Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1890-03-20

Will TWO Ittl OI cdTtn. L lie uOOT nau TWO
portfolios. and the only way the Indians
could get US was to ensconce themselves IN
the barn, thirty feet in front of US. and
then keep up a fire on the door until thirst
and hunger drove US to surrender. In this
case we were fixed for a week; but of
course they knew nothing of our condi-
ton, and had wrongly Judged our num-
bers. Had they divided their forces a
CT arge must have been successful, but the
Indian always charges in body or not
at ALL
The force had to approach over open
ground, and at the first sight of the charge
we sprang out of our dug-out, ranged in
line, and began to blaze away. The mob
was checked before it had half recovered
the distance, but before it could return
to shelter we killed thirteen warriors and
wounded three or four more Ten
minutes after the charge was made all the
living was galloping to the west, not even
making an effort to recover the bodies of
their dead. In after years met warrior
who was there, and he explained that his
band got the idea that forty or fifty SOL
diers were concealed In the dugout and
stables. and that he himself counted over
twenty of US.
One cloudy afternoon | left post of
the Seventh Calvary of the South Platte to
carry dispatch to headquarters. No In
dams had been seen for four days, and as
the first fifteen miles ofthe route was full
of washouts and gullies, / wanted daylight
had gone twelve miles, and was riding at
walk along a sunken way when an In
dian on horseback crossed it not over 100
foo oh 1of,, II &c
another gully which intersected it. While
west. | halted the instant [ saw him, and
sat there on nv horse while seventeen
mounted warriors followed each other in
single file across the gully, which was
there fully fifteen feet wide. Any one of
them had only to turn his head half way to
the right to see me- and yet all passed and
left me undiscovered. | ascertained the
reason as [ moved up to the crossing.
They were following the trail of a cavalry
horse which had escaped from the camp on
the Platte three or four days before, be-
lieving he carried rider.
In the latter part of the summer when
the stage route had been partially re-estab-
lished, l set out on night to carry orders to
the officer at one of the stations | was
UWO ILLUS Ou ilC u dill dIlI I'll pCl1uS pdI
allel to it, and my horse was going at a
still. This was the signal that danger
menaced and as | sat quietly in the sad
die and peered about me | heard white
man cough. | dismounted and crept for
ward and found two white men wrapped in
their blankets and asleep on the earth. |
awoke them to learn that
THEY WE'RE DEsERTERS
from the Seventh. They had left camp
three nights before, got lost, and were so
glad to see me that they shed tears Each
had his carbine and revolver and plenty
of ammunition. but they had had nothing
to eat for two days. They had seen Indians
all around them that day, and it was the
greatest wonder in the world than they
had not been discovered.
AS the men were determined to go on
with me, had to proceed at walk, and
thus when daylight came we were still
five miles from our point of destination.
Luckily for us we were in broken ground.
and as soon as the day had fully broken l
left the men and my horse in a gully and
assembled ridge to look about me. To
the left was the stage route. Two civ
ilians, named Arnold and Weber, had
left the station FIVE miles away before day
light to push on to the fort. AS day came
they almost rode into ambush of Indians
in hugh washout commanding the road.
The accidental discharge of gun in the
hands of one of the concealed Indians dis
covered their presence, and the civilians
turned short to the left and broke across
the country hopin to find cover and a
place to make stand. These men were
only half mile away as | assembled the
ridge, and a quarter of mile behind
them were twenty-three Indians, all on
horseback. l called to the men, and it
took but word to place US in position.
The two men who were riding for their
lives, came straight at us, aiming to get
the cover of the gullies, and they went
over the ridge and down into the gully al
most upon my horse. They caught on in
an instant, and before the persuing In
dams were up the strengers had crept up
beside us with their rifles. | heard but
did net see them. Not word was spoken
as the Indians came sweeping up. They
were spread out on line about ten
rods long, and while the pace was fast it
was not furious, they doubtless believing
their long chase was before them. The
line was within 100 feet of us when we
fired, and as we rose up we had to dodge
the horses. The redskins were paralyzed
by the suddenness of the attack, and three
or four of their ponies fell and rolled into
the gulch with their riders. Their only
anxiety from the first was to get away.
Five succeeded in this, although two of
them were wounded. The others we're
killed inside of four or FIVE minutes, and
that without the least hazard to our
selves. We had them right above us in
the gully, as in their excitement they
blocked the only way out, and when we
came to investigate we could not find a
wounded man in the heap. Out of the
eighteen ponies in the jam six we're killed,
and only five escaped being wounded.
This affair was written up for some of
the eastern papers as 'butchery," and
there were demands that it be investigated.
If it had been, the Investigators would have
found the scalps of seven white people at
tached to the girdles of those dead war
riors. They would have further found
stages riddled with bullets and spattered
with blood-corpses shot full of arrows,
settlers homes destroyed and women and
children carried away-skeletons of SOL
diers and civilians bleaching along every
mile of the route 200 miles long. It was
this blow which cleared the route of saw
ages, and it was those which followed it
the next season on large scale that put
an end to the Indian warfare in the west
forever.