The National tribune., 1890-10-16
B VARIED CAREER
A Veteran Soldier who Fought In
dams, MeXicanS and Rebels.

fOunQings, was an aged man. his long, white
hair Rnd beard, corresponding together with
the deep-traced lines upon his face, told that he
had seen the hardships of many years
=" i am a stranger here" he said to by
ISLANDER, +" this being my FIRST visit TO the Cap
itRl Of the country for which / have been
through three wars 10 defend. My name is
James Smith, of Idaho. ! was horn in Putnam
County, Pa, 81 years ago. i lett my home
when was l6 years old; went first to Cucin-
matt, o.; from there i went 10 Dearborn County,
Ind. AID worked on the farm Of Jesse i. Hol-
man for some years. As / grew older. was
not content TO live on farm. / hired TO
George w. Cohren TO work on a fiatboat be-
tween Cincinnati and New Orleans. / was
fond OF that kind OF life. and followed the Mis-
sissippi River and its tributaries for somc time
j finally left the Mississippi aud struck out for
the West. / took contract 10 cut cord-wood
for Abe Fullerton on the Chicago River, i
saved my money and entered land-Cilim
at the mouth Of that river, where the second
largest city Of the United States, in population
now stands.
' ] finally, after much hard work. sold nay
land claim 10 New Yorker for $500 and
thought had made a splendid trade. / left
there, and went 10 st. Louis and enlisted in the
army for the Florida war. / assigned 10
Co 4, 9th L. s Inf Maj. Hoffman was in
command of the regiment, with Lieut.. Belger
as Adiuiant; Capt Joseph ID. Sealigut COM
manded the company, with J. B. Todd and 5. ].
OsEood as LiCutenants while John Stanley
was Orderly-Serge8nt. When his term Of en-
listment expired, was appointed TO his rank,
which position 1 held until the close Of the
war.
soon after I Joined the regiment we were
ordered 20 Fort Leavenworth, then known as
the Indian country, 10 suppress an outbreak of
the P0tiawatOmie Indians on Cane Creek. We
captured the entire band, which ended that
campaign. Alter that we were ordered 10
Florida 10 fight the Seminole Indians. The
regiment WAS put on boats al 81. Louis, and
transported to New Orleans. From there we
went 10 Dead Mans Bay, in Florida, where we
had plenty of hard fighting with the Chief of
the Seminole tribe aEd his chief warrior, Billy
Bow Legs.
After we had been in Florida several
months Lieut. Osgood resigned, Oh account Of
poor health. Lieut.. HuTlburt, who had recently
graduated from West Point, was assigned TO
the vacancy occasioned by the resignation Of
OsgOOd. HuTlbuTt was gallant young soldier,
but did not see much active service with rs be-
fore he was killed. Ne had been on an eight
days scout and returning TO the post and
when within lew miles of the camp were
overtaken by night. Hurlburt, who was in
command, ordered US 10 bivouac FOR the night
and for me 20 bring the mcu into camp the
next morning. lie took three men as an escort,
and started Tor the post. As they attempted 10
cross a small creek which lay between them
and the camp, they were fred on by the In
disns and the entire party killed. Tie horses
escaped ana went on 20 the post, which gave
the alarm that they had been killed by Indians.
On our march the next morning we met a de-
tacbmcnt Of Hamcy's Dragons ia search of US.
AT the waters edge OF the creek we found tue
dead bodies OF HuTlburt and his mra. After
they bad been shot the Indians had beaten
their brains out with pine knots. We took tie
bodies 70 the post aud buried them.
must tell you little story Oh myself"
Baid the veteran. was very fond OF wild
honey. ] was out one day about two miles
from the camp looking for bee-Jrees and was
walking ieisurely along the bank Of a creek,
not thinking about indians, when suddenly
two white swans few out Of the creek. As
quick as a flash il occurred 10 me that Indians
were near, and few seconds settled the ques-
ton, for / discovered three Ina an warriors
creeping out Of the thick uudefbrUsh By the
time ] saw them they Cred on me- returned
the salute IA The same manner aud started Oh
dead run for the camp, with the three Indians
after me- We Lad q good fOOt-racc for Two
miles but ! finally reached the outpost aud
fell breatLIess the sand. Tie Surgeon,
DT. LeayenwOrih brought me out all right.
The Indians got 30 close to the camp that a
mounted squad Of dragons soon overlook aud
killed them.
few days after that our mail-carTier was
caught by some Indians and carried 40 miles
distant 70 their camp in q swamp, and tortured
four days by slow burning with pine faggois
MAJ. Hoffman, with detachment OF the regi-
meBt, went ~ pursuit Of them through the
everglades and sWamps for three days, and he
finally succeeded Ia killing and capturing the
entire band. The captiyes were sent west OF
the Mississippi River.
The regiment experienced some very rough
service IN the Florida war. Inc country was
anything but desirable IN which to conduct an
soiclerls Tor they knew every blind path aud
trail, and could hide in the underbTush and
creep UP on % before We knew it, The face Of
the country was densely covered with thick
underground, which they took advantage OF
We suffered greatly from sickness. ] have
only related briefly few Of the incidents aud
experiences il my long life. i only tell you
these that you may know that ] have been
therc."
- What did you do after you came out Of the
army asked his newt ~ formed acquaintance
After serving out ny time in FLORIDA ! was
bonOIably discharged from the United States
army and returned 70 New Orleans, aud en-
gagged IN steambOating On the Mississippi River
between that city aud ST. Louis ] mad buift
Up anice trade, and was saving money with a
view 81 retiring 70 some active business place
ln The west aud settling down for life but
such was not 70 be my fate When the war
broke out With Mexico sold out my ri yer inter
est and g0iHeQ the " eEterB army. Col Gteubeu
kearny was ordered 10 lake q command 10
Santa Fe with view Of invading northern
Mexico and holding Upper California. We
lett Fort LeaVeuWOIth ia June ISsg with
100 men. Col. Doniphan commanded the
regiment % which i belonged. We had two
companies from ST. Louis, under CapiE Fisher
and heigbtmau, and Capt. Hudson commanded
the Laclede Rangers. ID wac a hard march
across tie barren plains, with neither bush nor
tree 10 give us shelter q tOrrid sun on our
heads and backs and tho burning sands al our
feet aud our bodies famed by hot winds which
seemed almost ar bot as tic blast from a black.
smiths bellows. The plains were lined with
buffalo, antelope aud deer whilst droyes OF
black Wolves aud cayOtes followed our train "a
feed on the OfIal Of the animals butchered 10,
Our food and the caTcaEscs Of those that died
Water aud food became scarce aud we had "a
march on half ratiOBs. IL ever you saw !
thankful set Of men in your life il was Gen
kesTuys Command when We reached sauts
Re. We took possession Of the place, and ia,
artillery gave a salute 10 the old flag.
In September Col. DOniphRn rnOyd dowr
the hio Grande and fought the battle OF Bracito
IL 1as during cur march from Santa Fe int,
California That met the greatest Of ell AIueri
can Plalnsmen, Kit Carson, and the more saw
o. him tbe better liked him. was with him
on several Of bic daring encounters with In
claDs and heZicans. At the close Of the wa
went into California and tried my luck a
digging Tor gold. ] made some good strikes
and bad my ups aud downs like ali miners. Tn
Indians became 20 hostile aud murdered th
whites 80 numerically that organized a "a iii
lAfy company 10 protect them called the Da