The Bellefontaine Republican. [volume] (Bellefontaine, Logan County, Ohio) 1855-1905, 1900-03-02
THE "GRAY FOX"
General Charles Kings Reminis-
cences Of Major General Crook.

General Charles Kings Reminis-
cences of Major General Crook.
Young officers fresh from West Point
looked at him in wonderment. Instead
of somewhat unapproachable digni-
tary, in precise uniform and epaulets
and embroidered sash and belt, they
were welcomed by cordial handclasp
from a tall, bushy bearded man, with
twinkling gray blue eyes, in an old
slouch felt hat, flannel shirt. rough
canvas shooting coat and trousers and
common soldiers boots.
Generally his beard was tied up with
string or red tape, the only use he had
for that usual military Indispensable.
He sat at campfire or in the simply
furnished parlor of his army home lis
tening to the chat about him, rarely
speaking and assiduously playing soli-
taire with pack of cards produced
from an inner pocket. He could play a
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 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 spir-
its. He marveled that any man should.
ut spoils his shooting" said he. And
| our general was a capital shot. He
could foot it through an old fashioned
quadrille or Virginia reel, but nothing
else, and would always get away on
| social occasions into the first obscure
corner he could find, and then out
would come the old pack of cards.
He rarely read anything but natures
books, although he had a mathematical
| gift and not only stood well in SCI
| entific studies at the Point, as did
| Grant, but he helped along his un-
mathematical roommate, Sheridan.
| Writing was something Crook abhor-
red. He could hardly decipher one of
his own pages, and his letters and dis
patches, like those of old Trough and
Ready" General Zachary Taylor, were
generally penned by some brilliant
staff officer.
| Children he loved and treated with
a shy tenderness that was sweet to
| see, but he had none of his own. His
wife was Maryland girl who won his
heart during the war days while hel
brother and other enterprising "rebs'
made way with his body, capturing
him by daring night raid into Cum
berland.
Like Grant, he was simplicity itsel
in speech rarely lifting up his voice
and only once did l ever hear hin
| speak an impatient word or one tina
family resembled an expletive, bu
that was in the thick of the Sioux cam
paign of 1876 and when he had mucl
to try him.
We had to eat our horses that yea
to keep alive. We had no tents, ant
hardly a change of underwear coult
be found in the whole column. w,
were wet, bedraggled and dirty whel
we reached the Yellowstone, but tn,
general was as badly off as the hum
blest trooper and minded it less. Their
we met the spruce command of Gen
eral Terry, and Terry himself, in hand
| sOllc uHIlOIIl Tie plCtuIe VI tuc gen
tleman and soldier, came over to ou
bivouac to call on Crook. 1 was dry
ing my buckskins at fire as he ap
preached and stepped forward to sa
lutte him.
"Where shall find General Crook :?
said he.
For a moment I could not answer
| Then an old trooper grinned and nod
ded toward the river, and there, squat
ted on a rock, well out in the stream
stripped to the waist and scrubbini
away at his shirt, was our general
and Terry was too much of gentle
} man even to look amused at the sight.
The Indians called him the "Gra
Fox" The soldiers had their pc
names, but we, his officers, who follow
ed him all over the west, from tn
Mexican border to the upper Yellow
stone, spoke of him always as 9Th
general" our general. That meant, o
course, Crook, the simplest soldier
ever knew. In all the years it was M
: fortune to serve under him in Arizona
Wyoming. Dakota, Montana or at hi
headquarters in Omaha or Chicago,
never saw him in the uniform of hi
rank until he lay dead in his coffin, hi
| guard of honor grouped about him.
Youths Companion.