The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1896-10-27
CHAPTER III,

All this was but part and parcel Of
the story of the old Wyoming fort. Long
years had it served as refuge and resting
place for the emigrants in the days be-
fore the Union Pacific was built, when
tho overland stage route followed the
Plato to the Sweetwater and then past
the DEVILS Gate and Independence
Rock, old landmarks Of the Mormons,
and on to tho backbone of the continent,
where the mountain streams, springing
from rocky beds not long pistol shot
apart, flowed ripping away, the one to
tho Missouri and the gulf Of Mexico,
the other to the Colorado and that Of
California. Frayne was but a huge
stockade in the early days Of tho civil
war, but the government found it i'm.
portant from n strategical point Of
view even after the railway panned
tho Rockies and the emigrant and the
settler no longer trudaed the weary trail
that, bordering the Sioux country, he.
camo speedily u road of fire and blood
second only In its terrors to tho Smoky
Hill route through bleeding Kansas"
Once 1T was the boast Of the Dakotas.
as 1t has been for generations of their
enemies, the Absarakas, or Crows, that
they had never shed the blood of n
White n Settlers Of the old davs
USED to tell how the Sioux had followed
then Cor long, long marches, not to
mufuef lad pillage, but to restore to
,ne men i.olia lest along tho trail or ami
nn"' e.i"Jeu iiHm their little herds.
~ 'ioio came tn end to all this
mnoh' fcSlselng nm unjust demand, the
oloax BEING fired upon, retLiatcd. From,
'he DAY or the Grattan massscro hevord
OLD Laramie there had been M vol
peace with the lords Of tho nntl,x,nst
Ihey arc quiet only when subdued 6y
iorco. Ihey have broken the crust Of
ehelf environment time and again and
burst forth III thu scething flame Of 81
volcano that IL oven bubbliup md boil.
ing beneath the feet OF the frontinrs,na,
to this day. Y
and 80 trayne was maHqtaiped &c q
Rtltary post for years, first b. =, s.noh
AIDE, tpch az q subdepot of suppMs uor
rlsone% by Tour companies Of inFh,rm.
and fouTq caralry, tho former to Mayy
the fort, tR2lattcr TO scour tho neigM
boring countfya Then, Us time wore on
and other posts &ere built farther up in
WV biB boFn, Efa&bO garrison uWIn-
died, but there stood @gon its command
ing bluff tho low rows& Wooden bar
racks, no parallel rows * d,ublo sets
OF broad pia2zaed quarters Where dwelt
tho officers, the long, low, lSS Ifetea
walls Of tho corrals and cavalry Stables
on tho flat below. Here, oddly enough,
the Twelfth had spent o lively year or
two before 1t went to Arizona. Here it
learned the Sioux country and the Sioux
80 we'll that when, u few years btck,
the ghost dance craze swept over the
plains and mountains like the plague,
the Ole regiment was hurried from its,
sunshiny stations in the south and mus.
tered once again, four troops at least,
within the very walls that long before
had echoed to its trumpets. Hero we
found them in the midst OF the Christ
mas preparations that were turned so
suddenly into to the field, and
hore again, three years later still, head
quarters and six troops now. the proud
old regiment is still at Frayne, and
Fenton, "vice Farrar, killed in action
with hostile Indians" holds tho com
maud.