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

From Fort Riley the Ninth contlnue
north, being transferred to Fort Nc
Kinney, Wyo., in 1885. The / 400 mile
of the journey the Ninth Travelled
overland, just to show what it coul'
do. And it was wonderful what TIM
these men could make. They wer'
here one day and a 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
paign of 1s9O-9l marked the Ninth us /;
| fighting command of wonderful energy
They were in the bad lands hunting
Indians, ia miles from Pine Ridge, or
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 worl,
on both sides. That day the Ninth was
ms 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, q 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 ut 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 ut the little Big
Horn The Ninth unlimbcred for ac-
tion on the run, and faced the Indians,
after all that terrible ride, without
slackening speed for a moment The
Indians recognized the regiment as it
came over the hill north of the Miss ion
buildings, broke, and ran.
"That shows the mcCtlc of the regi-
mcnt. Still, the popular idea that the
regiment goes South because the Negro
can stand hcct better than the white
man is great mistake. The regiment
has Tough as well 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 colored t.oopers
south for service against Spain. They
ought to be 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 runiog ten
miles an hour. All these men are dead
shots Then, too, their warfare with
the Indians has trained them to fight
ing modern guns Particularly.
cit is conceded that there cannot be
such thing as 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 a 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 les
son in rough and tumble fighting if
they ever meet the fighting Ninth"