Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1896-01-16


a case Of sickness, she seemed to be on
pins and needles until she received
consent from her father to nurse the
sick one, whether he was officer or
private. In truth, her kindness and
charitableness to all made adorers out
of half the men in the fort and the
other half were dead in love with her.
Now get down to the story. One
day there came the announcement
that the Indians had gone on the war
path and that the men should be got
in readiness to leave at almost any
moment, to hunt down a band of row.
ing bucks, who were thought to be in
our neighborhood, before they had
much chance of killing and robbing
the settlers One morning the COM
mand came, and troop of cavalry
was detailed to go out, and, if posi-
bic, to bring them in. The matter
had now taken serious turn, for the
few bucks who had started the depre-
dations on a small scale had been
joined by the others, until several hun
dred of them had gone on the warpath
in dead earnest. 1t happened that the
mysterious private's' troop was the
one detailed to go out first on a sort
of reconnoitering trip, and if on in
vestigation it was thought necessary
to send out more men, they were to re-
turn for reinforcements.
at 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 a 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
cheers of their comrades ringing in
their ears.
eve 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 In
dians as prisoners. we had no idea
that the red devils 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 the day and the binding flakes
made it impossible to see many feet
outside the fort. Then misgivings re-
garding the safety of the men began
to take form. We had almost forgot
ten about 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 traces Of the troop could be
found. They might be wandering a
few miles outside the fort, we thought,
unable to find their way in. The
searchers returned, however, after
fruitless search, saying that it was I'M
possible 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 their tracks.
About three o'clock in the afternoon,
however, we were rewarded in our
watch by seeinga dark mass off to the
west, and as it drew nearer a 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
bic 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
lets into the little troop for a while,
and that one man was missing alto
gether. Then for the first time We
noticed that many Ofthe men were COW
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 fort. They seemed to have
been waiting for them, for their retreat
back was cut off by half the band,
while the rest kept up a fire on them
from ambush. They managed to get