The copper country evening news. [volume] (Calumet, Mich.) 18??-1907, 1898-01-13
TAKEN BY INDIANS,
MRS. HENDERSON FINDS HER CHILD
AFTER FORTY YEARS.


ter Instituted Inquiries For Her Mother.
An illustration of the adage, Truth
is stranger than fiction" was exempli-
fed recently through the files of the
pension office.
Mrs Orlando Bradt Of Georgetown
was reunited few days ago to her
mother, whom she had not seen since
her infancy. 1t was i'll the year 1857
that the troops stationed at Fort Ran
dali, Neb., were attacked by Indians,
and among the captives taken was
baby girl Of tender months, whose ia
Their, George Henderson, was musician
| IN the Second United States infantry,
under command of the afterward dis
tinguished General Sulley of Indian
war fame. Shortly afterward the reg
iment was scattered by orders from
headquarters, and two companies went
| to Fort Ridgley, two 20 Fort Riley, and
the remaining troops were retained at
| the post until further orders. AS il hap
pened the company in which Hender-
son enlisted was one of the two sent to
Fort Riley, and with only few hours
notice the soldiers broke camp and were
on foot for the far west In an ambu-
lance laden with accouterments of war
and provisions Henderson wife lay too
| i'll to be aware of what was passing
around her, and not until after days Of
hurried marching did she arouse to the
consciousness that her child who had
been temporarily placed in charge of an
ri Inl 10 falr
oner and carried off by the raiders
Time passed. and in the hurry of I'M
certainties of the period all communica-
ton was destroyed between distant
posts, so the unhappy mother was forced
to resign all hope of ever again behold
ing her daughter. About year later
the remaining infantry companies at
Fort Randall determined upon a raid
among the neighboring Indians with
the view of recapturing the prisoners
taken in 1857. The onslaught was sue
cessful, and among the captives was
found the little child whose fate had
cast such. gloom over the fort since the
unlucky day when the unhappy parents
were first acquainted with the tidings.
Within brief period the regiment
was ordered to move to Fort Laramie,
and "a foster mother was secured for the
baby in the person of the wife Of Pri-
vate Murphy of the Second regiment,
who adopted it as her own and hence
forth sought to secure information as to
the whereabouts Of the real mother.
Owing to the fortunes of war and the
early breaking out of the rebellion in
1861 no direct information as to the To-
cality of the various companies could be
obtained until the child grew to girl
hood In the course of time she blossom.
ed into womanhood, was loved and
welded by Mr.. Bradt and settled down
in the District of Columbia. Before
leaving the shelter of her adopted par
ents' home, however, she was made
fully acquainted with the facts in her
history.
Determined, if possible, to probe the
secret and discover if any trace of her
parents existed, Mrs. Bradt, with her
husbands assistance, put on foot in
quiries by application to the commits
sioner of pensions. This was in the year
1898, but nothing definite could be OBJ
tanned about the case, owing to a con
fiict in numbers between the original
record Of pension secured by the soldier
and that drawn by his widow.
Failing in the first attempt, Mrs.
Bradt persisted in her inquiries, and
early in 1897 made second application
through the adjutant generals office.
Strange to relate in this remarkable
story of lost and found, the matter
officially came to the knowledge of a
Mr.. Rudolph Ulmer, clerk in the di.
vision. Mr.. Ulmer, himself member
of the Second infantry and one of the
defending party upon the occasion of
the unlucky raid, was perfectly familiar
with all the circumstances in the case,
remembering the sorrow that hung over
the camp at Fort Randall when the
story of the capture was circulated, hav-
ing been present also at the retaking OF
the child. He determined to do all in
his power to discover the existence of
the parents. To his JOY he finally Sc
cured the information desired upon ref
erence to the files of the death list,
where the name of George Henderson,
musician in the Second United States
infantry, was found, coupled with the
name Of his widow, Hannah Henderson,
a resident of Brooklyn, in receipt of q
pension from the government. This fact
settled satisfactorily as far as the PEN
sion was concerned, it was necessary to
discover whether the Mrs. Hannah Hen
derson drawing pension was the mother
of the child or mayhap second WIFE
The department. deputed Mr.. Ulmer to
write direct to the lady in question,
and in this way facts were compared
that proved undeniably the identity of
the pensioner with the mother of the
stolen babe.
A letter received by Mrs. Bradt from
her mother announced her determine
ton to come Immediately to Washing
ton and see for herself the little one
stolen from her arms like one restored
from the grave. Great was the rejoic-
ing in the family when the mother and
daughter met, and the parent was well