The Forest Republican. [volume] (Tionesta, Pa.) 1869-1952, 1895-12-04

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the settlers. One morning the com
mand came. and a troop of cavalry
was detailed to 60 out, and, II possi-
bic, bring them in. The matter had
now taken quite a serious turn, for
the few bucks who had started the dep
relations on small scale had been
joined by the others, until several hun
dred Of them had gone on the war
path in dead earnest. 1t happened
that the mysterious private's troop was
the one detailed to go outNfirst on a
sort of reconnoitering trip, and il on
investigation it was thought necessary
to send out more men they we're to re-
turn for reinforcements.
"It was busy scene at the fort that
morning. Soon the bugle sounded,
the men leaped into their saddles and
moved up to the gate of the fort. 1t
was proud moment for the men who
composed that troop, for it was their
first actual expedition after the enemy.
Then came the sound of the bugle
again and the men were off, with the
cheers of their comrades ringing in
their ears.
"We in the fort had many anxious
hours that day and night, wondering
how the expedition would turn out,
though we little thought that there
would be any serious results. They
would probably return, we thought,
with the whole band of redskins as
prisoners. We had no idea that the
red imps would dare defy them or
much less fire on them.
During the night terrible snow
storm set in, however, and we kept
anxious watch to see if they would
give up the chase on this account and
return to the fort. But no. The night
passed away and dawn still saw no
trace of the men. The storm seemed
to become more furious with the ad-
vent of day, and the binding flakes
made 1t impossible to see many feet
outside the fort. Then misgivings re-
garding the safety OF the men began
to take form. We had now almost for
gotten the Indians, and our only
thoughts were of the men and how
they would manage to return to the
fort in this terrible storm. About
noon there was lull in the wind and
snow, and couriers were sent out to
see if any trace of the troop could be
found. They might be wandering
few miles outside the fort, we
thought, unable to find their way in.
The searchers returned, however, after
q fruitless search, saying that it was
impossible to find any trace of them,
not knowing exactly where to look for
them. The ground, of course, having
been covered by the snowstorm after
their departure, it was impossible to
follow in their tracks"
"About 3 o'clock in the afternoon,
however, we were rewarded in our
watch by seeing dark mass off to the
west, and as it drew nearer O shout
went up from the watchers, as we dis
covered our missing troop.
"When the men rode into fort again
they were piled with questions as to
what they had done during the terri
BILE storm. But the queries were cut
short by the announcement that they
had been pursued by at least three
hundred Indians, who had poured bull
let's into the little troop tor while,
and that one man was missing alto
gether. Then for the first time we no.
ticed that many of the men were Gov
cred with blood. They had not been
out of the fort five hours, they said,
when they were attacked by band OF
redskins most unexpectedly, for they
had no idea that they were so near the
fork Thaxy oaaDna1 70 baua haay, xxo
ing for them, for their retreat back
was cut off by half the band, while the
rest kept up fire on them from am
bush. They managed to get out of it
without the loss of any men, however.
A hot fire had been kept up on both
sides while the retreat lasted, and sew
eral on our side had been wounded,
and, as some of the men insisted, the
Indians had lost quite a few to the
happy hunting grounds. They at last
gave up the chase when the storm set
in. The mysterious private was
missed when the troop emerged from
strip of woods about twenty miles
from the fort. He was wounded dur
ing the fight, and had evidently given
up the flight from exhaustion. While
the men were telling this we stood
about and wondered what would be
done to find the poor fellow, who had
now undoubtedly passed into another
world.
''rhe storm had again commenced
with seemingly added fury, aud we
realized what a dangerous undertaking
it would be for anyone to set out with
the intention of finding the poor fell
lows body. We retired to our quar-
ters afte- hearing no end of narrow
escape stories from some of the pri-
Yates, to await orders from the COM
mandant as to the next move.
"We had all given up the idea of
going after the body by nightfall-
that is, all but one.
"Before my time for arising the
next morning there came to my ears
the loudest cheering, mixed with
shouts, that / have ever heard in all
my lifetime. I hastily dropped into
my clothes and ran out to see what
was up. Near the gate. l saw almost
the entire population of the fort, so
Il seemed to me, most of them en-
gagged in cheering and shouting over
something. Before reached the
crowd it parted and two persons rode
toward me-the mysterious private
and Genevieve Hutle. As she passed
me, standing almost glued to the spot