Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1899-10-23
An Unad0rned General.

Recalling Gen. George Crook in the
days of his Indian campaigns, Gen
Charles King says of him in the Youths
Companion:
Young officers fresh from West
Point looked at him in wonderment
Instead OF somewhat unapproachable
diSnitary, in precise uniform and
epauletS and embroidered sash and
belt. they We're welcomed by a cordial
hand-clasp from a tall. bushy bearded
man. with twinklng gray-blue eyes, in
an old SLOUGH felt hat, flannel shirt
rough canvas shooting-coat and trous-
ers and common soldiers boots
Generally his beard was tied up
with string or red tape-the only use he
had for that usual military indispen-
sable. He sat at campfire or in the
simply furnished parlor of his army
home. listening to the chat about him,
rarely speaking. and assiduously play
ing solitaire with pack of cards pro-
duced from an inner pocket. He could
play capital hand at whist, but fought
shy of a game with careless or forget
full players. He heard everything that
was said and saw everything going on
about him, but seldom gave 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 marvelled that any man should. IT
spells his shooting said he; and our
general was a capital shot. He could
foot it through an oldfashioned quad
rifle or Virginia reel. but nothing else.
and would always get away on socia!
occasions into the first obscure corner
ne could find. and then out would come
the old pack of cards.
He rarely read anything but ma
lures books, although he had a mathe-
NAUTICAL gift, and not only stood we'll in
scientific studies at the Point. as did
Grant but he helped along his un
mathematical roommate, Sheridan.
Writing was something Crook alb
horred. He could hardly decipher one
of his own pages, and his letters and
dispatches. like thsse of old Rough
and Ready.'-Gen. Zachary Taylor
were generally penned by some bril-
liant staff officer.
Children he loved and treated with
a shy tenderness that was sweet to see.
was a Maryland girl who won his heart
during the war days. while her brother
and other enterprising 'rebs' made way
with his body. capturing him by dar-
ing night raid into Cumberland.
Like Grant. he was simplicity itself
in speech, rarely lifting up his voice.
and only once did l ever hear him
speak an impatient word or one that
family resembled an expletive. but that
was in the thick of the Sioux campaign
of 1876, and when he had much to try
him.
I'VE had to eat our horses that year
to keep alive We had no tents, and
hardly a change of underwear could be
found in the whole column. We We're
wet, bedraggled and dirty when we
reached the Yellowstone. but the gen
eral was as badly off as the humbest
trooper. and minded it less. There We
met the spruce command of General
Terry. and Terry himself in handsome
uniform. the picture of the gentleman
and soldier. came over to our bivouac
to call on Crook. / was drying my
buckskins at a fire as he approached,
and stepped forward to salute him.
Where shall l find General Crook p
said he.
For a moment / could not answer |
Then an old trooper grnned and nod
ded toward the river. and there. |
Squatted on rock. we'll out in the
stripped to the waist. and scrub
bling away at his shirt was our general |
and Terry was too much of a gentle
man even to look amused at the sight |
=
'The Indians called him the Gray
Fox The soldiers had their pet names. |
but we. his officers. who followed him
all over the West. from the Mexican
border to the upper Yellowstone, spoke |
of him always as the general our
That meant, of course Crook |
the simplest soldier I ever knew In all |
the years it was my fortune to serve
under him in Arizona, Wyoming Da-
kota. Montana, or at his headquar- |
tiers in Omaha or Chicago / never saw |
him in the uniform of his rank until |
he lay dead in his coffin, his guard of |
honor grouped about him."