The St. Johns herald., 1896-08-08
JOHN PHILLIPS DARING RIDE
From Kcarney to Laramie to Bring
 Relief to Beleagued Troops.

Relief to Be1eagued Troops.
 All the claims which come before
 Congress are not manufactured affairs
 by any means, and when particularly
 good one comes to notice the discovery
 is so refreshing as to attract wide at-
 tention. Such a case appears in bill
 just reported to the House for the re-
 lief of Hattie A. Phillips, widow of
 John Phillips, whose death was hasten
 ed by an act of exceptional gallantry
 in December, 1866, nearly thirty years
 ago, and who never received any spe-
 cial compensation for his services. The
 evidence in favor of the claim is very
 strong, one of the afidavits being that
 of Colonel Henry B. Darlington, Of
 the regular army.
 In the dead of winter, with the deep
 snow on the ground and the thermom-
 eter 20 degrees below zero at times, and with no food beyond what he car
 ried in his saddlebag, Phillips made a ride of 225 miles through a country inhabited only by hostile Indians, and started re-enforcements to a frontier post, which ia few days would have fallen into the hands of the savages. In 1866 Fort Philip Kearney, in Da- kota territory, commanded by Colonel Darlington, was the extreme outpost in that part of the northwest. The Sioux, under Red Cloud, who had been lowering In the vicinity of the post, became warlike, and attacked a wood train a few miles north of the fort. A detachment of troops, consisting of some eighty men, with few civilians, made dash from the fort for the pur- pose of protecting the wood train, were surrounded by the Indians in overwhelming numbers, and after terrible struggle were massacred in body. The bloodthirtsy Sioux then be- sieged the garrison, which they out numbered twenty to one, and severe trial of endurance began. So fearful was the prospect that the women and children begged to be placed in the powder-house and blown up as soon as the attacking party should be plainly victorious.
 At this juncture Phillips, who was a scout and hunter, volunteered to take dispatches to Fort Laramie, 225 miles away. He was obliged to travel by night and hide by day, to subsist on the few biscuits and feed his horse on the scanty supply of oats he could carry attached to the saddle. Those who had left the fort just before him, and a party of scouts who started soon afterWard, never lived to tell the tale. But Phillips plowed his way through the snow and carried the news to the soldiers at Fort Laramie, who hasten ed to the relief of their besieged com: rades. The Sioux were so elraged at being thus outgeneraled that they open ed campaign of annoyance and devil try against Phillips, which never ceas- ed till he died. At one time they las soed him with a view to killing him by torture. Repeatedly they killed his live stock and committed other wan ton and vengeful depredations, of which the proof was so clear, including their own admissions, that the court of claims gave judgment against them for $2,210. Ills death was traceable to his perils and exposures, and to his later prosecutions by the Indians.
 One of the junior officers in Colonel | command at Fort Kear- ney was Lieutenant Grumond, whose widow In time married Colonel Car rington. She is as enthusiastic as her husband in her efforts to procure from Congress for the widow of Phillips the | value of the property of which the Indians robbed him because he per formed his heroic feat against them. In her affidavit she says, among other things: During that terrible night, | when an attack in overwhelming num- | oers was constantly expected, John Phillips called to express his sympathy Tor me, and, overcome by the immi- lent danger of all concerned, he said: If the General wishes, will go as If 1t costs me my life He gave me his wolf robe to remember ! lim by If we never heard from him again. His whole bearing was manly, brave and unseldsh, and beyond all praise"
 Phillips was a British subject at the ime of his famous ride, but afterward became citizen of the United States. New York Evening Post.