Bismarck weekly tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1884-1943, 1893-10-20

WIN SAPAO oolONS 0tlu "llCu q Kay yOuIK
officer one evening came into a friends
house where I was dining, when my hus-
band was away, and announced that he
had been sent to escort the doctors
"widow" to the hops. l was greatly dis
concerted, and rising with all the dignity
l could muster, l informed him, that l was
mot a widow, but the doctors wife," Then
1t was his turn to be disconnected, and in
the laughter that followed the explanation
of our hostess, the sobriquet of "the doc
tors wife," was fastened upon me, and 1
was seldom addressed by any other, until
in self-defense I adopted it as my literary
nom de plume, and for a number of years
afterward, many of my contributions to
the eastern press were made over that sig.
nature.
Some of the regulations which were
necessary to insure the safety of the iu-
mates of the tort at first proved exceed
ingly irksome. At Louisville and else
where in the department Of the south,
where my husband had served. no super
vision over the ladies of the post had been
exercised by the post authorities. We
rode, drove, made calls, entertained our
friends from the city, and went to the
theater whenever we chose. Here our en-
vironments were such that to gain per-
mission for a short ride on horseback, re-
quired the utmost diplomacy. While
there was little danger of the Sioux cap
turing the fort, unless the could first set
it OH fire there was always danger Of
those who ventured away from the post
being attacked, hence no one was allowed
to leave the fort unnecessarily.
The families of the Indian scouts sub
sisted in their log quarters and teepees, on
the rations issued them by the government
in much the same style that the lowest
order of whites do in cities. l usually &C.
companled my husband when he went to
visit the sick squaws and pappooses. Sew
eral of the old women could speak Eng
lish and I vas soon on friendly terms
with them. They called me medicine
Squaw," and other nice names, n of
which in the Indian tongue, was "Zezula,"
which they interpreted as meaning 1.-THE
squaw that helps" From them l learned
all there was to learn of the Indian system
of medicine and surgery, but they said,
''the white mans way is best"
On June End the commanding officer
lried the experiment of discharging the
Arjckaree scouts who had so long and
faithfully served the government
and substituting Sioux scouts from
the Grand River Agency. This was done
because the Arickarees had to run the
gauntlet through the hostile country to Fl.
Sully, and seldom made a trip without
being fired upon by the Sioux, to which
they retaliated and usually came off
victors. 1t was thought by the Indian
agent at Grand river that by employing
Sioux scouts to carry the mail through the
Sioux country much bloodshed could be
avoided. The Sioux scouts were duly en-
listed for the mail service, and with their
squaws and papooses took possession of
the Indian quarters at the fort and drew
their rations. The Sioux squaws were not
friendly like the Arickarees. and once
when l had carried some jellies to a sick
child that lay neglected on the ground
floor of a teepee an old squaw who looked
a veritable witch, came in and gave my
long hair a vicious twist, accompanying it
by a quick gesture over her WI head in
dicative of scalping. That act needed no
interpreter, and I went no more to the
Indian quarters while the Sioux were there.
On June 18th a large war party of
Arrickareees arrived from Fort Berthold,
en- route to the Sioux agency at Grand
river, which they said they were going to
attack. They said they we're tired of hav-
ing their ponies run off, and their
women killed by the Sioux, who were sup
ported by the government, and had time
to go on such raids, while they who had
always been friendly to the government,
must support themselves, and defend their
villages against the Sioux at the same time
Rations we're issued to them by the com
mandant of the fort, and after an animated
"powwow" and a horrible war dance
they agreed to relinquish their bloody
design, and next day they returned to
their agency at Fort Berthold.
On June 22d we saw our first Indian bat.
tie. A large party of mounted Sioux
swooped down upon the fort just as the
"sick call' sounded, a little after daybreak.
The usually deserted plain at the rear of
the fort became suddenly a scene of life
and color. Gaudily painted warriors on
their swift little ponies were rushing wildly
toward the west wall of the fort, uttering
wild wal cries and firing their guns. In
side the fort all wa commotion. The long
roll of the drums, the men rushing into
ranks, and dashing off company after com
pany, the sharp commands of the officers,
and the fierce encounter on the plain, all
made up a scene not soon to he forgotten
by those who looked on, feeling that their
lives depended on the result of the conflict.
Tho Indian soon gave way and fled
to the hills taking with them a large part
of the beef herd. The attack on the fort
had been merely a feint, under cover of
which, they slew the herder, and stampeded
the cattle. When my husband answered
the interrupted 'sick call" he found two
wounded soldiers awaiting him. The
Sioux had two braves killed, whose bodies
they carried away. One of them was