Iowa state bystander. [volume] (Des Moines, Iowa) 1894-1916, 1898-04-29

north, being transferred to Fort Nc
Kinney, Wyo., in 1885. The 400 miles
of the journey the Ninth Travelled
overland, just to show what it could
do. And it was wonderful what time
these men could make. They were
here one day and hundred miles away
tomorrow.
81 could recall hundred desperate
engements of theae troopers showing
their wonderful GOODNESS and daring,
but their latest work in the Sioux cam
paigu of 1s9O-9l marked the Ninth as a
fighting command of wonderful energy.
They were in the bad lands hunting
Indians, ia miles from Pine Ridge, on
Dec. 80, 1890. This was the day of the
battle Of Wounded Knee, where Clusters
old command, the Seventh, met and
whipped out old Two Strikes band of
Sioux braves. The troopers lost nearly
two score men the, so it was hot work
on both sides. That day the Ninth was
ins tructed to get back to the agency
as qui cky as possible. Guy V. Henry
was then major of the Ninth. He is
now colonel of the Tenth. The troop
ers kept their horses on the run for
twenty-five hours, and reachd the agen-
cy, a distance of 100 miles. in that time.
Without getting out of their saddles or
stopping for food, they rushed off four
teen miles to the rescue of the Seventh
cavalry, which was threatened with to-
tai extinction at the battle of the Mis-
sion. If the fighting Ninth had been
an hour later Clusters old regiment
might have suffered the same fate as
he and his men did at the little Big
Horn. The Ninth unlimbcred for ac-
tion on the run, and faced the Indians,
after all that terrible ride, without
slackcning speed for moment. The
Indians recognized the regiment as it
came over the hill north of the Miss ion
buildings, broke, and ran.
'That shows the meCtle of the regi
ment. Still, the popular idea that the
regiment goes South because the Negro
can stand hect better than the white
man is great mistake. The regiment
has Tough as we'll in the north as in in
the South. The members have stood
the cold better than the white troopers,
and so have they stood the heat. The
Negro IS not SO susceptible to either
great heat or severe cold as is the weite
man. This is why the government is
how ordering the colorcd t.oopers
south for service against Spain. They
ought to be a revelation to the world
if they are called into action, for few
people outside of the west know what
fighting these men have done against
the Indians. Why, they ride like GEN.
taurs, and can shoot with one revolver
in each hand and their bride in their
teeth, with their horses runing ten
miles an hour. All these men are dead
ouOLS AuCu, CoO, IuCh "dt1dIc "1tA
the Indians has trained them to fight
ing modern guns Particularly.
''It is conceded that there cannot be
such thing as Il charge of cavalry en-
masse as in olden times. now that rapid
fire machine guns are useb. Hence the
scattered fighting to which the Ninth
has been used in the west will be the
very thing for this new service. This
regiment can scatter over mile, charge
like whirlwind, and face anything.
The men can fire their revolvers almost
as rapid as machine gun. When
they go into action they will resort to
all the tactics taught them in Indian
fighting to conceal their bodies, and
Spanish fighting soldiers will get a les
son in rough and tumble fighting if
they ever meet the fighting Ninth"