The record-union., 1898-03-13
MORE ABOUT FITzHUGH LEE.
ADDITIONAL INCIDENTS OF HIS
EARLY LIFE.
Told by g. Sac-1-ncctan w"o
Fought Comanches With tiM
in Texas.

A few DAYS since the Record mon
published Il very interesting sketch y,
Fitznugh Lee. who as Consui-Gehela
at Havana. has so nobly upheld thS
honor and dignity Of the nation, uiuel
the most trying circumstances. lii' MS
name is on the lips and in the h@&itS
of every patriotic American AS soihe
of the incidents of his early army HE
therein mentioned were participated IN
by enc Of our own citizens, Generai
George &. Cosby, the latter was re-
uuested to relate fer the liecofu-
Unions" readers some OF his personal
"reminiscences of his old filend ana
comrade who is now such prominent
figure in one of the most tnrlillnS IL
ternational dramas of modern times
The request was granted. first on the
condition that the story would be pub
lished simply as that OF "a brother
officer" but at the last moment, ana
only after 4 most stubborn resistance,
the over-modest narrator consented to
the use of his name. 1 am not at all
proud of these hastily written lines,
he says in an accompanying note, and
have ever disliked to have my name in
print l have attempted to condense
the story as much as possble-too
much, perhaps-for the subject opens
up all the cells where memory slept,
and the attempt has been like cutting
grass-the more you cut it the more 1t
grows"
LEES EARLY CAREER.
F'itZhugh Lee and myself were Lieu
tenants in the Second Cavalry, made
Al ord e ma NY
of its officers in the civil war. OF
these historic names / recall Albert
Sidney Johnson Robert E. Lee. George
H Thomas, Earl Van Dorm. George
Stoneman, Kirby Smith, John B. Hood
and Fitz Lee.
Fitz was stationed at q neighborng
post. We often met while on scouts,
and on such occasions sometimes
camped our small detachments for the
night together Our orders on such
scouts We're to hunt for signs or trails
of the Comanche Indians, who at that
time infested the frontier of Texas,
numbering any whites they caught
and stealing bands of horses, hurrying
the latter off to their distant camps in
the Indian Territory.
These Indians always fought mount
we occasionally captured an old rusty
rifle or pistol. mementoes no doubt of
some murdered settler. They usually
fought in the open, making a running
defensive fight They were magnifi
cent horsemen, wonderfully expert with
the bow and fully equal or superior to
cavalryman and his revolver. When
cornered they were desperate. asking
no quarter and giving none. On find
ing fresh trail we had orders to fol-
low it as long as we had a pack mule
to eat. or until we lost the trail.
At one of these meetings FitZ gave
me an account of "a little affair" as
he expressed it, which had occurred
few days before. He had come
across a hot trail, which his guide told
him had been made that morning ana
that the Indians were driving a band
of horses. He followed rapidly and
socn came in sight of q band of In
dams crossing a small prairie and NOV
ing as rapidly as they could, hampered
as they We're by their stolen horses. AS
soon as they saw the soldiers coming
at gallop they abandoned everything
and dashed for the rocky bluff near by,
and as soon as il was reached. con-
trary to their custom they dismotfnted
and took to the cover of the rocks.
When Fitz reached their abandoned
ponies he also dismounted his men
and led them up the hill at a double
quick His men We're much scattered.
Suddenly he saw just below him. be-
tween two large powders. a burly In
dian drawing his bow. Like a flash
he leaped down upon him. grappled
with and threw him lie held him
down with one knee on each arm while
his left hand clutched the Indians
long hair
The Indian was struggling to get his
knife and Fitz was longing for his pis-
toll. which had fallen near him in the
struggle Every now and then he
pounded the warrior in the face to daze
him. but he was so exhausted that his
blows seemed to have no more effect
than those one gives while in a night
mare. Both We're painting and ex-
hausted. and there was no referee 10
declare ii draw
1t had to be fight TO a finish. For
tunately for Fitz. one of his men
heard the struggle and coming up set
tied the question of survival by hand
ing him his pistol with which he put
quietus on the Comanche. He took
MS kllife, belt ana DOW as trophies.
have often wondered if he had forgot
ten the incident. and still wonder how
that fight would have ended had thes
been left alone to settle it.
After that we We're together in com
mand of our respective companies a.
part OF an expedition. under command
of Van Dorm. against the Ccmanches
in the Wichita Mountains. We had
been leisurely following FOR several
days rather old trail of large band
of Indians. who evidently had some o.
their families with them. as was evi
denced by the trail of lodge poles
which are never carried by war par
ties. and the short distances betweer
their abandoned camps also showed