Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1894-09-20
BLOOD FOR BLOOD.
One OF the Sanguinary Lessons Uncle
SANS Troops Taught to the Stony

n.
by and by we. struck the trail of the
neadwaters, and followed it down to with
IN a couple of miles of its junction with
the republican fork. Then it became
SO dark that the scouts could 40 longer
keep the trail, and we went into camp. To
ne west OF us was a dry ravine 800 feet
l In ~ loo VIDE, connecting two valleys.
III the sprlngtime the water poured
through and cut a. ditch along either side
ne trall was so fresh when night came
mat the Indians could not be far ahead
Al the junction of the streams, two miles
away, there was a large grove of cotton
.Y they were probably camped in
the grove for the night. They had with
'hem three women and four children as
SaptlFes from the wagon train.
Our horses were staked out to nibble
at the parched grass, and after a bite to
eat every man not on guard flung himself
Gown 10 sleep. There were no fires, no
cooking. no light even for Il pipe. When
the camp with its fifty men grew quiet an
lndlan scout might have stood within 100
ieet OF the plckets and heard no sound to
lhdlcate our presence. In camp or post
where no danger menaceS cavalry horses
sfoan out as they sleep. In troop they
are moving around the length of the lari-
at, winding themselves I'D, whimperinr
and paving and lying down and getting
up again. On this night the horses were
So Wohderfully quiet that their very post
ures tod OF danger in the air They licked
the dew from the earth as it fell. but up
TO midnight not one of them lay down to
rest. -
At 2 o'clock every sleeper was aroused.
A shake of the shoulder or a whisper in
the ear was sufficient The trooper stood
up, rubbed sleep from his eyes, and then
joined the line of dark figures facing the
west. BY and by sergeant passed from
ooh, bod Il,
bine and cartridge belt, and then the one
line became two, and each moved down
the valley. At whispered word of com
mand the lines suddenly vanished. Forty
men crept into the bitches. twenty on
side. Each ditch was a natural rifle pit.
No man asked a question. Each one fully
realized what the movement meant. If
the Indians had sighted us in pursuit
they would muster just before the break
Of day and attempt to surprise the camp.
They were three to one. and such odds
make an Indian brave
One in the center of the valley could
not have heard the troopers slide down
into the bitches. Two minutes after they
were sheltered the eye or the ear of a
wolf would have caught nothing to alarm
him. II the men spoke at all, it was in
whispers. with mouth to ear. The crick-
cts ceased their singing for brief min
ute and then began again, and we had
not been in camp ten minutes when Il pack
of coyotes trotted up the center of the
valley almost into camp and set up a
hoWlinG and snarling and had no suspicion
of our presence. Some of the men slept
again, even as they knelt and clutched
their carhines. but it was a sleep SO light
that as the darkness of night began to
fade out Il nudge aroused them. OF sud
den the coyotes Scampered away, and
we knew they scented danger They were
quickly out of sight. but down at the
n of 40 "a bo1 70,
n moment to serenade us in their queer
fashion. Then for ten minutes there was
Il gravelke silence. The cricket which
had been singing almost in my ear for an
Indians were creeping forward.
They came on hands and knees.
Wolves stealing forward to dash upon
their prey could not have moved more
quietly, Seen through the weird shadows
Of the fading night they seemed to be
wolves indeed. We let them advance and
waited for the shot from the captains
revolver which was to be the signal. Each
warrior was Il blotch against the fading
darkness. You could only make out that
something was moving. Now and then
the figures halted for moment, as if
those in advance had become fearful or
desired to consult. but by and by the
head of the procession and twenty fol-
lowers had passed between us and camp.
Then the signal rang out, and before it
had ceased to echo forty carblnes were
playing upon the mass in the center OF
the valley. With the first report came
screams and shrieks and warwhoops and
answering shots fired at random. 1t was
over in three minutes. but we rested in the
bitches quarter of an hour longer until
the breaking day gave us light TO see
from ditch to ditch Between our lines
lay thirty-two dead warriors, and there
were n dozen bloody trails TO show which
way the wounded had gone. Thirty-two
warriors in their hideous paint. with rifle
and tomahawk and knife, some hit by
three or four of the great ounce bullets.
and there would be mourning for many
day among the Sioux.
We cheered and cheered again. We
had given them Il lessen to be long re-
membered and we were joyful over 1t.
Not for long, however. AS soon as the
SIM rose and we pushed forward to the
grove we found no one there, no one but
the dead. Each captive woman and child
had been butchered out OF hand IN re-
bodies had been left for us to bury 1T
had been blood for blood.-New York