The Cook County herald., 1901-07-13


Ehe matter of giving interviews to the
public press, but while In Boston with
mis- great educational exhibition the
other day he was induced to say a
feW words about himself and the de-
Weiopment of the great West which
Will be OF interest to readers gener-
ally. Speaking of his early life he said:
mere We're a heap of occupations
Tor boys in those days, and I guess I
tackled 'em ALL driving loose cattle
behind s4Elild a bull train, carrying dispatch
es for freighting outfits, following and
going with trappers for furs on differ
ent streams. That's how learned to
Know the Indian--by going with trad
ers who trade with EN- for furs. When
= was along in my teens was per-
Gectly familiar with all the country
from the Canadian river in the south
TO the YelloWstone of the north. and
the lands between the Rocky noun
Sa1ns and the Missouri river. became
Ghoroughly acquainted with the In
dams, knew th heir fayorite haunts, their
camps and their bad lands rs
e. What was the real cause of the first
Indian uprising?''
It was the effect of the bad exam
ple set them by the white men. Dur
ing the war of the rebellion the In
dian heard that the white men were
killing each other off. They kept
nearing about it for two years, until
all the tribes were talking about the
gradual extinction Of the white man,
who had wonderful guns and ammu-
Milton. At last they. held a grand
meeting which led to general up
rising. They obtained modern guns
and armed themselves like the white
men, and it was their impression that
they could sweep across the continent
clear through to the great river the
Atlantic, and reoapture their. country
from the whites ~ A.
The material for western romance
began at this time with a vengeance,
and followed the dramatic flavor that
literature had gained from the sor-
rows Of the civil war. The United
States government is not romantic
organization, however, and as soon as
~
tween tthe North and the South, the 4
entire forces Of the regular army we're
hurried out to the frontier, command
ed in turn by such men as Sherman,
Sheridan, Hancock, Custer Carr, Miles,
Crook, Augur, Ord, Hazen, Emery,
Duncan, Forsythe, King, Reynolds,
Terry, Penrose, Palmer, Gibbon, Can
by, Henry, Whistler, Crosby, Greedy,
Sudley, Mills, Hayes, Schwitzer and
many others. Most of these officers
were totally unfamiliar with the
plains, and then came into existence
the man of whom "Bilr' Cody is an
ideal representatiye-the scout.
""You see, when these army fellows
4 came out our way continued Col.
Cody, "the question was, Who, could
they find to act as guides and scouts?
The miners were inefficient; they
didn't tell much about the hiding
places Of the Indians, SO they began to
look around for fellows like me, who
had been raised out there. When
Gen. Sherman came West in '65 and
s66 to make his great treaty with the
Kiowa and the Comanche Indians,
was first employed as a scout and dis
patch carrier. Well, he soon found
that I knew the country better than
any man in his command, and he
made me his guide felt considerable.
pride in my responsibility, too, for I
was pretty young to have an old army
veteran like Sherman leaning on
me" He paused. 2-fG +
How young?" asked. 81 -
+ "Nineteen!" he said, emphatically,
land in two years-that is, in '68-when
Sherman took command of the field,
he made me chief OF scouts and guide
~of the United States army
a Scouting was a trader" asked.
It's gift. The Indian is the nat
-ural scout, and he'll keep a white man
I hustling, with all his clothes on, and
no sleep either to beat him.
"The scout knew his gamer"
Eyes, sir, as well as the Indian could
hunt his. A scout had to have eyes.
ears and brain working overtime when
he was on the trail. I can tell you
You followed the tracks Of the In
dian ponies %
Tracks, nothing!" said 1Bill" CON
Eemptuously That's no sawdust
country out there; it's all grass. You
IcouIdnt see a hoof print. I've fol-
lowed a single horse file by watching
The grass and noticing how it was
broken. could tell the way the grass
broke IL the Indians were travelling
Gast or slow, horses packed heavy or
light, ridden by Indians or running
loose. The manner in which moe
casin shaped its tread on the prairie
would tell me what tribe our enemy
belonged to, and by their camp en-
bers whether it was q party on the
swarpath or peaceful Indians. Nothing
made an army man SO sore as to have
b guide make a dry camp at night, so
khat scout had to be conversant with
Che country &nd reach water when
mightfan came.
The gubjection of the Indians was
lOne OF The toughest propositions to
@ faca. IN 1871 the Pine Ridge trouble
broke out. The Indians expected their