Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1895-12-24

Forty Did What Five Thousand Sol
diers Could Not Do.
From the Philadelphia Times


diers Could Not Do.
From the Philadelphia Times.
In the pioneer days to reach Montana
from Cheyenne. in Wyoming, required a
roundabout journey that involved a double
crossing of the Rocky mountains, with a
change of base at Salt Lake City. The
United States government brought about a
better condition of travel by construct ting
trail through the Gallatin valley along
the course of the Gunpowder river. reach
ing around the base of the noun sains in
curvilnear form. which avoided the
heights of the Rockies. To protect this
route from marauding Indians three forts
were bult-Reno, Phil Kearney and c. F.
Smith. These were garr!soned by United
States troops. In 1866 the murdero"s Sioux
from the Yellowstone valley pursued
sanguinary course up through the Galiatin
valley and into Montana. 1t was marked
by rapine and plumber. They besieSed Fort
Reno and killed many of it's garrison, in
Guiding brother of A. X. Mcclure.
They environed Fort Phil Kearney and
wiped from the face of the earth every hu
man being whose walls it failed to protect.
Then they surrounded Fort C. F. Smith.
where 300 Union soldiers found themselves
surrounded by more thar 1,Gn dea sh-seelt-
ing Indians. Escape seemed. impossible. n
courier got WORD of this condition of af
fair to Gen. Hancock, who was then sta
toned a St. Paul. and he sent a message
to the governor of Montana a. .ozeman,
calling Upon him to relieve the heSiged
garrison. The chief executive of the terri
tory of Montana at that time was Green
Clay Smith, who. by the way, recently
died in Washington, a Baptist clergyman.
He had been member of Congress from
Kentucky, but President Lincoln made him
territorial governor of Montana. He was
seated on the porch of his residence in
Bozeman when Hancoc1's message was
handed n a "a ST.
who was seated by his side, and VINO is the
authority for this narrative, he said:
What in the name of heaven can l do?
Fort c. F. Smith is 80 miles away. The
country between here and there IS filled
with Sioux Indians. Our militia force con-
sists of exactly 421 man. Not man of
them could reach Fort G. r. Smith alive.
am absolutely powerless. However, l
will send for Col Howe.'
Military Useless.
At that time Col. Neil HOWE was United
States marshal for the territory of Mon
tana. He was a typical frontersman. He
commanded the Montana volunteers.
1t was to this man that Gov Smith ad-
dressed himself, handing him Gen. Han
cocks dispatch and saying: Colonel. we
can't do anything for those poor devils in
Fort C. F. Smith. We haven't enough
men, and those we have couldn't get there
Am / not rignt?'
No said Col. HOWE, quietly without
any exhibition of excitement and with the
gentle voice of a woman. There is no
trouble about that, governor. We can ar
range that matter and still leave the Mon
tana frontier protected. / Will need some
picked men and good leader for them. |
think Capt. McCabe is best fitted Cor this
undertaking. | will go out and find him"
McCabe was another gentle-voceG man
with blue eyes. He didn't make much
noise. He acted. He said to the governor:
INT
forty of the best men l select. You
can keep the rest of your volunteer force
here Gov Smith looked at him in amaze
ment So did the visitor from the east.
They both thought that he was either in
sane or a braggart. Gov. Smith said to
him: How in the name of heaven do you
expect to raise the siege of Fort G. F.
Smith with forty men, when you know that
it is surrounded by more than 1000 blood
thirsty Indians and that the country be-
tween here and there is covered with thou
sands more of murderous SiouX?'
easy Enough"
Said McCabe, quietly: "Why, governor. it
is easy enough. The Indians know Us and
know that we know them better than they
know themselves. You folks from the
east have an idea that what you call In
dian atrocities are simply unmeaning ex-
hibitions of brutality; that scaIping, for in
stance is simply form of torture. III
that you are mistaken. The Indian be-
lieves that no man go TO the happy
hunting ground heaven we call it--who
has been deprived of his hair Their mo-
tive in scalDing a victim is to carry out
fendish hatred to its utmost by prevent
ing him from having a happy hereafter.
Therefore, to deprive Indian of his
scalp is to rob him of his hope of happy
hereafter. My men never kill an Indian
without scalping him, and the Indians
know that. The forty men 1 will select for
this expedition are unerr.ng in their aim
with the rifle. They can shoot sixteen
shots in sixteen seconds, and every bail
means a dead Indian and every dead In
dian means scalp and every sctlp means
a warrior deprived eternally of d chance
of ever reaching the happy hunting
ground. My forty men will walk from here
to Fort C. F. Smith without firing a shot"
'Incredibie,' said Gov. Smith.
True" said Capt. McCabe.
What the result?
Forty men walked 80 miles from Boze-
man to Fort C. F. Smith. Indians watched
them every side. BY days their pro-
gress was signaied by circling columns of
smoke and by night by fire from noun
tain tops. But not shot was fired. When
they got within sight of Fort C. F. Smith
the 1000 whooping Sioux who held the
tiersmen from BoZeman marched in and
territorial capital without the loss of a
life. Not a shot had been fired Not a
scalp had been lifted.
This is unwrtten history.
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