, 1900-07-17
From our calculation as to distance,

From our calculation as to distance,
we expected to strike the village by
daylight on the morning Of the 18th.
Our line of march lay up the valley Of
the Tongue river, and. after we had
passed the point where our wagons
had struck the stream, we found no
road, but much underbrush and fallen
timber; and. as the night was quite
dark, our march was greatly impsded
SO that at daylight we were not within
many miles OF the Indian village. The
general was much disappointed at this
delay, which compelled us to keep
closely under cover, and in many in
stances to march along by the waters
edge under the river bank in single
file, to keep out of the sight Of the In
diars. l had worked myself to the x
IRENE advance, and, like, possibly
many others in the command, had be-
gun to think that there was no Indian
village Iea us and that we would have
no Indians to fight. Arriving at this
conclusion, 1 had become somewhat
reckless, and had determined that Cap.
tain North, who had Joined u COM
mand shortly after we left camp, should
not reach the village in advance of my
self.
AS we rode along close together con-
versing, l managed to forge in ahead
Of HIM just as We dropped down into 2
deep ravine. The bank on the side
just beyond the stream was much high
er than the bank from which we came
and the trail led up this steep bank.
AS l rode up the bank and came to the
top. my eyes beheld a sight as unex-
pected to me as a peep into sheol. Just
before me lay a large mesa, or table
containing 500 or 600 acres of land all
covered with Indian ponies, except
portion about one-half mile to the left
which was thickly dotted with Indian
tepees full Of Indians. Without a mo-
ment's hesitation l grasped the bits of
my horse with my right hand, and his
nostrils with my left. to prevent him
from w%hinnying, threw myself from
the saddle, dragging the horse down
the bank against Captain North's horse
and whispered to him that we had
found the village. Captain North held
my horse while 1 ran back motioning
the men to keep still. In fact, the gen
eral had issued orders when we left
camp that no man should speak above
a whisper, and that when the horses
attempted to whinny, they should be
jerked up with a tight rein. During
the last one-half hour Of our march
several men had become somewhat
careless, and were not as cautious as
they had been during the night. ]
soon met the general, who was close
to the advance, and told him Of my
discovery. The word was passed back
for the men to CLOSE up" and to fol-
low the general, and not to fire a shot
until he fired in advance. General Con-
nor then took the lead, rode his horse
up the steep bank of the ravine and
dashed across the mesa as II there were
no Indians just to the left. Every man
followed as closely as possible.
At the first sight Of the general the
ponies covering the table land in front
Of US set up a tremendous whinny-
ing and galloped down toward the In
dian village. More than 1000 dogs
commenced barking, and more than
700 Indians made the hills ring with
their fearful yelling. 1t appeared that
the Indians were in the act Of break
ing camp. The most of their tepees
were down and packed for the march.
The ponies, more than 5000, had been
gathered in, and most of the warriors
had secured their horses; probably half
OF the squaws and children were
mounted, and some had taken up the
line Of march up the stream for a new
camp. They were Arapahoes under
Black Bear and Old David, with sev-
eral other chiefs not SO prominent.
The general watched the movements
Of his men until he saw the last man
emerge from the ravine, when he
wheeled on the left into line. The
whole line then fired a volley from
their carbines in the village without
hating their horses, and the bugles
sounded the charge. Without the
sound Of the bugle there would have
been no halt by the men in that COL
umn; not a man but what realized that
to charge into the village without a
moments hesitation was our only SAL
walton. We already saw that We were
greatly outnumbered, and that only
desperate fighting would save our
scalps. I felt for a moment that my
place was with the train; that really I
was a coneummate fool for urging the
general to allow me to accompany him.
I was reminded that I had lost no In
dams, and that scalping Indians was
unmanly. besides being brutal, and for
my part I did not want any dirty scalps
Yet, I had no time to halt; l could not
do tiny horse carried me forward al
most against my will, and In those few
moments-less than 1t takes to tel
the story-I was in the village, in the
midst Of a hand-to-hand aght with war
riofs and their sQuavs. for many Of