The Mount Holly news. [volume] (Mount Holly, Burlington Co., N.J.) 1891-1942, 1896-06-02
up to me without waiting for me tc
speak he said:
Lieutenant. | think''-

up 10 me W1tnOuU waiting IOf me 10
speak he said:
Lieutenant, / think
He got no further, for at that point
interrupted him. As he began to speak
the thought flashed through my mind:
"Therel As had expected he is going
to presume on his position as an old
soldier and give me advice " I did not
want any advice. wanted the credit,
and the whole credit.
| knew that his advice would be good,
for he was am old Indian fighter and
level headed man, but that was all the
moro reason for my not wanting to hear
his advice, for no doubt / should be in
fluenced by it, and then l should feel in
honor bound to acknowledge his share
in the success. Therefore, as he began
to speak, said, perhaps rather too
abruptly:
''Never mind, sergeant, what you
think Join the troop and have it ready
to attack as soon as / come back. +"
With a suspicion Of smile on his
face, but true to his reputation as
splendid soldier he obeyed without a
word. l again crept forward to the crest
Of the hill, and protected by my mask Of
grass made a thorough survey of the
ground.
The Indians, as had expected, be-
lieving themselves absolutely safe, had
taken no precautions to guard against
surprise They had gone into camp on
the bank of small stream, which at
this point made bend away from Inc
and then back again, forming V, with
the Indian camp at the vertex. The
stream had at the bend cut into the OPP
posite bank, making it steep and hard
to scale.
Their campfres were lighted, and the
Indians were evidently preparing sup
per. Their rifles were stacked little in
advance on one side.
My plan was quickly formed. would
send small detachments up and down
rections and would draw up my main
body behind the crest where / was.
They would have perfect command of
the camp and could also pick off any
one who attempted to escape by scaling
the opposite bank.
When everything should be ready, /
would advance alone as far down the
slope as possible, and as soon as discov-
cred would call ON the camp to surren-
der At my call my men would appear at
the crest with their rifles cooked and
aimed / hoped by this plan to capture
the whole camp without firing a shot.
returned to my troop and carefully
explained the plan Again l thought
that / noticed one or two peculiar smiles
ON the mems faces. paid no attention
to them, but made the details for the
two parties to cut off the retreat up and
down the stream.
l selected trustworthy noncommis-
stoned officers to command these parties
and started them for their designated
places I then deployed my men as Skin
mishers, and after waiting a sufficient
length of time for the two detached par
ties to reach their places l gave the or
der for the men to advance cautiously to
the crest of the hill.
1t was quite dark by this time, and
with sigh of relief / saw my plans
completed without any alarm having
been given.
cautiously advanced alone till with
in easy speaking distance, when / step
ped into plain view and called for the
surrender Of the camp, at the same
tiye M8ling them that escape was inn
T NOS k.factlx1 oofn,,pdod fo coo no
commotion, confusion i'll the camp.
but in reply to my summons voice an
swered in good English
"All right, old fellow, we surrender
Now march your men in and have some
supper. z
/ recognized the speaker as one of the
captains from the next post, who was
in command of company of Indian
scouts, that / had mistaken for band
Of hostiles.
The joke was on me, and l had moth
ing to do but to make the best of it. So,
hiding my chagrin as best l could, |
gave the order for the men to return for
their horses and march into camp.
The captain told me that all the hos
k1lk,H 4lsstA &ktf Tlieu W NueH Ttss ANettlOIl,
b<If Afie1s his scouts had reported to
him that w were following him he
had guessed tint we had not heard of
their return, but had mistaken his COM
pany for the Indians He had thought
that it would be g,'ou -, on me to
let me go ahead anGs capture aaoiae
pany.
After supper, when | went to inspect
the horses, the first sergeant said to me:
Lieutenant, l started to tell you
that I thought that those were friendly
Indians, and when you sent me back to
the troop cautioned the men not to
shoot unless proved to be mistaken. -
1t would indeed have been dreadful
mistake if any one had been hurt So |
thanked the sergeant for his thoughtful
ness and at the same time mentally re-
solved that the next time would listen
to his advice.
1t did not take long after / returned
to my post for the story to leak out
But it was long time before they tired
Of telling how | captured company Of
our own Indian scouts. Lieutenant J.
q w Brooks TT 8 in Vouth'S