The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1890-04-17

met he extended his hand and said in
very good English:
"How, brother, how? Are you well?"
II am we'll, and so are all my brothers
back there" replied, pointing to the
station. "Does Little Feather wish to
surrender to us?"
He was disconnected and embarrassed
for a moment, but finally said he had
come to offer US terms. We were but
three, he said, and they we're five hun
dred. It would be foolish for US to re-
sist. If we would surrender we would
be sure of good treatment. and would
probably be sent to the fort very soon.
turned the tables on him by saying
that was in their camp the night be-
fore, had counted them, and made less
than two hundred, and if his misguided
| brethren would surrender their horses
and arms we would let them depart on
foot. If not, they must abide the conse-
quences. He went away looking at me
as If he thought me crazy, and ten
minutes later we were enciroled and the
fight began. My horse was the only one
! at the station. I caused him to lie down
in the stable, sheltered him as much as
possible with the means at hand, and
then retired to the dugout in company
with the others. Each of us had a port
hole, but more than five hundred bullets
had been fired by the Indians before we
fired our first. Then, inside of ten
minutes, we killed seven and wounded
three. There were about $50 Indians in
the party. AS soon as their fire slack
ened we knew what to expect and we
got ready for it. A band as large as that
would be certain to charge US before
giving up the fight. This dugout was
in the form of an outdoor cellar, having
a bullet-proof door, while the top was
covered with two feet of earth. The
door had two port holes, 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 fire on the door until thirst and
| hunger drove US to surrender. In this
case we were fixed for week, but, of
course, they knew nothing of our condi-
ton, and had wrongly judged our num-
bers. Had they divided their forces a
charge 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 sign of the
charge we sprang out of our dug out,
ranged in line, and began blazing away.
The mob was checked before it had half
covered 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 were galloping
off to the west, not even making an
effort to recover the bodies of their dead.
In after years l met a warrior who was
there, and he explained that his band
| got the idea that forty or fifty soldiers
were concealed in the dugout and
stables, and that he himself counted
over twenty of us.
One cloudy afternoon I left post of
the Seventh cavalry on the South Platte
to carry dispatches to headquarters. No
Indians had been seen for four days,
and as the first fifteen miles of the route
was full of washouts and gullies.
wanted daylight to make any thing like
decent progress. had gone twelve
d
sunken way when an Indian on horse
back crossed it not over two hundred
feet ahead of me. He had come out of
another gully which intersected it.
While l was going north he crossed
! from east to west. l halted the instant
saw him, and sat there on my horse
| while seventeen mounted warriors fol-
lowed 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 IN
discovered. l ascertained the reason as
l moved up to the crossing. They were
following the trail Of cavalry horse
VIII CHI had escaped from the camp on the
Platte three or four days before, believ-
ing that he carried rider.
In the latter part of the summer,
when the stage route had been partially
re-established, l set out one night to
carry orders to the officer at one of the
stations. was two miles off the trail
and travelling parallel to it, and my
horse was going at lope when he sud-
denly came to a standstill. This was
u
sat quietly in the saddle and peered
about me 1 heard white man cough.
dismounted and crept forward and found
two white men wrapped in their blankets
and asleep on the earth. I awoke them
to learn that they were deserters from
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 moth
ing to eat for two days. They had seen
it was the greatest wonder in the world
they had not been discovered.
As the men were determined to 90 on
with me, had to proceed at walk,
and thus when daylight came we were
still five miles from our point of desti-
nation. Luckily for us we were in broken
ground, and as soon as day had fully
broken left the men and my horse in a
gully and assembled ridge to look about
me. To the left was the stage route.
Two civilians, named Arnold and Web
Der, had left the station five miles away
before daylight to push on to the fort.
AS day came they almost rode into an
ambush of Indians in huge washout
commanding the road. The accidental
discharge of gun in the hands of one
of the concealed Indians discovered
their presence, and the citizens turned
short to the left and broke across the
country, hoping to find cover and place
to make stand. These men were only
half mile away as 1 assembled the
ridge, and a quarter of mile behind
them were twenty-three Indians, all on
horseback. I 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 almost upon my horse. They
caught on in an instant, and before the
pursuing Indians were up the strangers
had crept up beside US with their rifles.
l heard but did not see them. Not
word was spoken as the Indians came