The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1899-11-09
RECoLLECTIoNs OF GENERAL CROOK,
Brig. Gen. Charles King, U. S. ", Tells
Some Anecdotes In the Life of the
the Great Indian Fighter.

MdlOr-Ueneral UeOrRe OrOOK OF the
United States Army, who died in
1890, was probably the the most I'M
ostentatious of our great soldiers and
had fought in more pitched battles
than any of them.
AS Judge of Indian character no
man in the army was his superior, nor
had we an officer more universally
known to the Indians and trusted by
them. Except the Kiowas and Co.
manches of the southeastern plains,
he knew them all. His early years as
a lieutenant in the Fourth Infantry
were spent among the tribes of Ore
gon and upper California. The Pitt
River Indians sent an arrow through
him in one fight, but his marvellous
constitution enabled him to be out in
time for another battle within q
month.
Crook lived in the open air, shoot
ing, fishing, hunting in the noun
tains, often going all by himself for
days through the wilderness and liv-
ing on the game that he shot. Long
before the outbreak of the Civil War
he was famous as grizzly-bear hun
| ter, and the moment the war was
over, when most officers were glad to
take rest, he sought and obtained
immediate service in the wilds of
| Idaho.
He had commanded the Eighth
Corps under his old roommate at West
Point, Sheridan, during the Shenan-
doah campaign of 1864, and held the
rank of Major General of Volunteers,
but contendly returned to the regu-
lar infantry as a major, and resumed
his old work, studying Indian char
acter and habits, hunting with the
''friendlies' and hunting down the
"hostiles.''
One tribe on the Pacific coast had
long proved too much for any general
sent against them-the Apaches of
Arizona. Crook had whipped every
band in his neighborhood, and at last,
in 1871, the government sent him to
command in Arizona, although he
was then only lieutenant-colonel
He took the field in person, which his
predecessors had not done. He taught
his young officers methods they never
dreamed of. In rough hunting-shirt
and moccaslns, he led the way, afoot,
through the canons and mountains,
and in two years the Apaches were
utterly crushed and cowed, and over
the heads of all the colonies in the
army Crook was made a general.
In 1876 came the great war against
the Sioux and their allies, the hard
est Indian campaign, probably, ever
fought, and the government sent
three columns into the field, with
Crook at the head of the largest. A
year or so later he had to go back to
Arizona, for certain of the Apaches,
taking advantage of his successors in
that department, had reopened Wig
orous war.
All the time, until promoted major
general and sent to Chicago to com
mand the military division of the
Missouri, and as often as possible even
then, he would spend days and weeks
hunting big game, sometimes alone,
sometimes with few chosen compan-
ions. He was never so thoroughly at
home as when afeld.
Young officers fresh from West
Point looked at him in wonderment.
Instead of somewhat unapproach-
able dignitary, in precise uniform and
epaulets and embroidered sash and
belt, they were welcomed by a cor
dial handclasp from a tall, bushy-
bearded man, with twinkling gray
blue eyes, in angold slough felt hat,
flannel shirt, rough canvas shooting
coat and trousers and common SOL
diers' boots.
Generally his beard was tied up
with string or red tape-the only use
he had for that usual military indis-
pensable. He sat at campfire or in
the simply furnished parlor of his
army home, listening to the chat
about him, rarely speaking, and as
siduously playing solitair with pack
of cards produced from an inner
pocket. He could play capital hand
at whist, but fought shy of game
with careless or forgetful players. He
heard everything that was said and
saw everything going on about him,
but seldom gave a sign.
From the so-called pleasures of so.
ciety, dinners, dances and receptions,
he shrank in dismay. He ate only
the simplest food. He never smoked.
He hated wine. He wouldn't touch
spirits; he marveled that any man
should. at spoils his shooting" he
said; and our general was q capital
shot. He could foot it through an
old-fashioned quadrille or Virginia
reel, but nothing else, and would al
ways get away on social occasions in