Bismarck weekly tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1884-1943, 1893-10-20
CHAPTER III.
FROM THE SOUTH TO THE YVES

T the close of the reconstruction
~ period in the south my husband,
~ who had served through the
wal of the rebellion, as surgeon
of the 55th Kentucky Mounted
Infantry, with rank of major of staff, was
serving as post surgeon, us. A., at Swayhe
barracks, Tennessee.
The military posts in the department of
the south were then consolidated and he
was ordered to army headquarters at
Washington, D. c., and thence to the head
quarters of the department of Dakota at
St. Paul, for service in the west.
On reporting there, he received orders
Tor Fert Benton, Montana, but we stopped
some days at the Merchants hotel and
formed a pleasant acquaintance with the
officers at headquarters. Before we left
the city, Surgeon j. f. Head, medical
director of the department, changed my
husbands orders from Fort Benton to Fort
Rice, Dakota Territory, which he said was
amuch pleasanter post.
We made the journey via the steamer
Minnesota" on the Mississippi river from
st. Paul to Dubuque, thence by rail to
Sioux City. Iowa, and up the Missouri
river, by the steamer katie P. Kountz,"
of the Commodore Kountz line of steam
boats to Fort Rice. Mr.. VIM. Braithwaite
now a prominent merchant of Bismarck
was clerk of the steamer. At Yankton, a
town of about 1000 people, we took u
last lingering look at civilization. At a
little town called st. Helena the people
we're in q state of excitement. A man
named--had been hung the night
before by a mob, and a man came on board
with part of the rope with which he had
been hung, which he wished to cut in small
pieces and sell to the passengers. He
offered the first choice of his rueful wares
to several army officers who were on
board, and their indignation was so great
that the captain of the boat ordered the
man ashore, but there was one supersti-
tious man on board, and the cooks as
sistant followed him, and bought several
inches of the gruesome rope, which he be-
lieved would be a talisman to bring him
good luck.
Two weeks were consumed in the journey
up the river, and it is impossible to describe
the dreadful sinking Of the heart the
loneliness, the dread feeling of solitude
ald impending danger, that deepened as
we steamed further and further up the
river, passing the Indian agencies of the
friendly Brules, Toncas, Cheyennes and
Yanctoniss. At Fl. Sully, a number of
officers from the fort came on board,
among them, Captain Dickey Of the 22nd,
a brother of Maj. S. A. Dickey, now of Bis
narck. and we were taken up to the fort.
From Sully to the mouth of the Big
Cheynne River, it is seven miles by
land and fifteen by water. We were
driven across the country in an ambulance,
and ferried across the Missouri in the gov
ernment batteau, arriving at the Big Chey-
enne one hour before the steamboat.
Above Sully, as W. proceeded, the soli-
tude deepened, and at length we reached a
.and where it seemed no human foot had
ever trod, the realm of the hostile Sioux.
Save the scant growth of timber that
thanked the willow fringed bank of the
river, not a tree nor schrub disturbed the
m0notony of the scene. No sound broke
the stiffness, save the painting of the steam
boats engine, and the rushing of the waves
about her PROV. Afar in the distance,
crowning some lonely height or abrupt hill,
at intervals was seen the only evidence
that the land had ever been traversed by
human steps. These were the rude plat.
forms formed of cottonwood bOughs and
willow withes, upon which reposed in
death, the last poor remnants of some
perished chieftain. The Indian graves
burdened with the decaying forms OF those
who western people aptly style "the good
Indians"
We reached Fort Rice strangers in a
strange land. The first officer to greet us,
was Lieut.. Josiah Chance of Ohio, who
was officer of the day, and who kindly
proffered us the use of his quarters, until
our goods could be unpacked and our own
quarters made ready. There we were
cordially greeted by the officers and ladies
OF the post and made to feel that we were
among friends. In these remote army
oA1 WIICAC Oil I W sN
same danger and exposed to the sam
hardships, there is %engendered a kindliness
or feeling and a friendly interst in each
other, that is seldom found in civillife, and
we were soon installed in comfortable
quarters amid pleasant social surround
'ngs. General Crittenden, Colonel of the
regiment was then absent on leave, and
Major Denis IL. Sanger was post com
Mandant.
A pleasant feature of the social life a,
inc tort was the playing of the regimentaI
Nand in the center of the parade ground
zach summer evening at retreat and al
inc weekly hops in the large library room
when its presence insured us always the
latest music and the newest dances. The
'a'ne etiquette prevailed on these oc
saslons as In the most exclusive circles Of
view York and Washington. AS some Of
me officers were always absent, on esc0r'
outy, to the other forts, or on expedition:
VI some kind, those remaining wer'
puhctiliOus In seeing that their wives wer'
provided with escorts and partners. These
iauleS In the Darlance Of West Point. Wer,