The age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1897-1902, 1897-11-28


tial. I left the post shortly after re-
Vellie My party consisted of five troop
ers and the prisoner
Having been tcld to keep br ght look
out for Indians who were just thsn ollIt
on the warpath and for which my small
party could be no match we cautiously
proceeded. We passed old Fort Belknap
about noon of The second day out, being
oVertaken soon after by tins ambulance
and escort of Gen. Sherman, who was
thsn making a tour of all the frontier
posts. About five miles from BellNnap
WAS Salt creek, the scene, of numerous
attacks by Indians on immigrant trains
and stagss and as we approached II we
kept our eyes lifting to guard against
any sudden surprise. once, the pr soner
remarked that he thought he hear Iifle
shots, but mo- one else apparently heard
them. We reached the creek and stopped
for few moments to water our horses.
About two milss bs yond the creek on
rising a High ridge in the prar.es we saw
wagon train packed but thinking it
some Mexican trsGn, who usually car
ried water with tlgsm and camped wher-
ever the grasing' was good, we paid not
much attention Basit, until en- rising the
next ridge we saw more clearly that it
looked like a government train. The
absence of all life or stock puzzled u.s.
although there was a fire burning. On
approa ching a Ettle closer we saw sew
eral mules and horses lying with their
feet in the air apparently dead Str'ik-
ing spurs. to our HORSES we rode down
and a fearful scene presented itself
Stripped stark naked and lying about the
wagons were the bodies of seven men,
Their t-die9 were frightfully mutllated,
their throats were cut from eae TO ear
their stomachs ripped open and filled
with flour taken from the wagons they
were scalped and other namelsss mutt
lations made. Lying by one of the
wagons and bound to it by a wagon
chain was a man whom we subsequently
ascertainlsd lt be the wagonmaster, a fire
had BEEN built around him and one
Side was burned to a crisp, he had been
Scalped and hot Goals had been poured
on his bleeding skull, his eyes were still
rolling in his head, but on kicking the
fire away we found that life was ex-
tinct
From the number of empty cartridge
shslls and dead Indian ponies its was APP
parent that a desperate defence had
been made before the teamsters had
been overcome.
Placing the bodies in the wagons to
preserve them from the wolves as we
had no tools to bury thsm, We rode ra-
pfdly forward expecting every moment
to come upon the bodies of Gen. Sher-
man and his escort i
About five miles from the scene, while
passing a small timber island, faint
hail reached us and standing in the shade
of the trees we saw three men, one of
whom was waving his hat A closer
approach showed that they were white
men and we soon ascertained that they
We're the sole survivors of the massacre
who had succeeded in crawling away.
After learning the particulars I mount
cd two of the men who were wounded
en- the packmules and et'irg IL, d.
tail to follow slowly rode ahead to car
ry the news to Rort Richardson.
AS my / IRIS wa. a powerful one and
an good condition I made the pest just as
the band was sounding off" at retreat
roll call. The commanding officer and
Gen. Sherman were seated on the veran-
dab. and seeing by the haste of my ar
rival and the condition of my horse that
someth ng unusual had happened, Gen.
Ma clSinzis, the officer in command hail
ed me by name and asked ME what was
The matter.
/ approached and salutsd, and, dis
mounting, related the facts
my God,' said Sherman, II must have
met that train not many minutes before
they were attacked and then quickly,
''Tiake all the men you can spare from
here and get what cavalry you have
from Griffin and your Tonkawa scouts
and follow the trail and If it leads, as l
think 1t will, into some village in the In
dian Territory and You can locate it-go
for it and clean Ut out
Immediately all was hustle and excite
ment. Couriers were sent to Griffin for
the troops and Scaouts; rations were
drawn ard isued to tbeVarious campan-
les; an ambulance was sent for the two
wounded men, and the dawn was just
breaking as a column of three hundred
cavalry left the post under the rsdoubt-
able General r. s. Mackenzie en- route
to the scene of the massacre.
Not being required as a witness at the
court martial obtained permission 10
rot 70 nd h..
the column. We reached the scene about
noon, and soon after we had buried the
dead and started the train again on it's
e drney (teamstegs ind mules having
been brought along for the purpose) we
were joined by the two troops of cavalry
from Fort Griffin and the Tonkawa In
dian scouts. -
This sc.uts immed' ately pronounced the
hostiles to have been war party of Kio-
was and without further delay the trail
was taken UP and followed .t
1t was large and plain-no attempt
having been made, apparently, to hide
it and it led directly north toward the
Indian Territory. Before we reached the
Red River-the dividing line between
Texas and the Territory--we had several
days of heavy rain and when the river
was reached it was high and well nigh
impossible but the engineering skill of
Mackenzie was equal to the occasion and
the whole comamnd got safely across
with but very little delay. Thsre, howev-
er, disappointment awaited US. The
heavy rain had entirely obliterated every
vestage of ahe trail and even the wonder
full sagagity of the Tonkawas was at
fault; so the command struck out for the
Wichita mountains and skirting tine base
OF that range finally reached Fort Sill.
There we got startling news 1t sS-em-
ed that Sherman had arrived the week
before and learning incidentally that s'a-
tanta the celebrated war chief of Tie
Kiowas, had been making some boast he
had his village surrounded al5 III 1t