The National tribune., 1901-06-06
Ito be oontinued.)
CAMPAIGNING ON THE FRONTIER.
"reminiscences of Service With the 1st U. s.
Cav on the Plains Before the War.

! CdV- Oh tue DCaOit tuc W d..
EDITOR NATIONAL TRIBUNE: The 1st
! Z. s. Cav. was at Fort Leavenworth
through most of the Winter of 1856. l
did not keep a diary while in the service,
but | will tell my experiences rs | remem-
Der them, and some incidents happening
in those five years l will never forget. l
do not intend to go into details about
camp life, as COmrade Peck has ably de-
scribed that part of the service.
About January we were ordered to
move to Pawnee Creek to head off old
Jim Lane, who was coming into Kansas
by way of Nebraska. We stayed there
about one month. One morning about 10
o clock old Jim Lane walked right into the
trap we had set for him. We secured a
miscellaneous assortment of arms from
the party. He had about 1000 men with
him, but some of those in the rear got
away and we turned the others loose as
soon as we had disarmed them. l think
they had gathered all of the rusty pistols
and old flint-lock muskets in the United
States, and, as one of the boys expressed
it, the collection was the "goldurndest lot
of arms ever | seen"
After turning Lanes men loose we
broke camp and started for Fort Leaven-
worth, but before we reached there we
got orders to go to GrasshOpper TO dis
arm body of pro-siavery men who had
killed old man Cody and burned his house
and saw mill (he being Free Statesman,
leaving his family without protection. The
pro-slavery men left before we arrived.
a detail was sent with the widow and
her two children. One of these children is
the world-renowned Buffalo Bill (William
Cody, but he had not earned his title then,
as he was only about II years old at the
time Of which / write. After sending
them to Fort Leavenworth, we followed
the murderers down through Kansas to
a town called Little Santa Fe Here they
crossed the line into Missouri, and we had
to turn back.
We were ordered to move back to Osa-
watomie to try to capture John Brown
and his men, who were encamped there.
This was in the month of March We
captured the entire band, but turned loose
all but John Brown, whom we held pris-
oner, as the United States Government
had preferred the charge of treason
against him. We guarded Brown about
10 days. | was one Of the men detailed
to guard him. The first time / was on
guard duty he acted very strangely; he
would sing a while, then pray while,
and then curse Awhile. l kept one eye
on him, and it was well l did. The sec
ond time | was on guard he tried the in
sane dodge on me; he first tried to climb
the tent-pole backwards, and about l
o'clock in the day he made break for
liberty. Jumping out of the tent, he
grabbed my gun and tried to take it away
from be, but | called 9 for the Corporal
of the Guard. G0rp'l Winters came TO
my rescue, or John Browns rather, as
he was about to get away, and take me
with him. a.. gs
Capt. Wood, being in command, or
dered Sergeant of the Guard Merchant to
take file Of men and tie Brown in the
guard-tent. They tied him to the tent
pole, with his hands behind his back.
After he had been tied about half hour
Brown asked me to call the Captain.
Capt. Wood came to the tent and asked:
- W hat do you want, Mr.. Brown" Brown
replied, God will hold you responsible for
this, and then went on with his singing
and praying.
We kept Brown under guard about
three days after the incident, and then
we moved him to Fort Leavenworth,
where he was held in the garrison for
about SIX or eight months before his trial
we VIII pass on to the other scenes, and
leave old John Brown, as he was cleared
ON the charge of treason, and, as the old
song goes, John Browns body lies mould
erlng IN the tomb" as we go marching
p'l ~ tAt Sdiht SDdl, hHtTe all aDlmOSlIY
is gone, where we are judged according
to the deeds done in the body, and who
but Him that knows all things can Judge.
we were at the fort but a few days
when we were ordered to move on to Fort
Scott Kan, and here we stayed until the
Spring of 1857, when we were ordered to
Fort Leavenworth to fit up, as the United
STATES Government was going to send out
three bodies of soldiers. Comrade Peck
was under Maj. Sedgwick, who had four
companies. L went with Col. Joseph e.
Johnston'S command to guard the sur
yeyorS establishing the southern boundary
line of Kansas. We had four companies
Of men, Capt Wood, Co. c.; Capt. An
derson, Co. l: have forgotten the names
of the Captains of Cos. X and Il.
We went first to Spring River and es-
tablished cornerstone, and started on
a direct line to the headwaters of the
Cimarron River. Nothing of any import
ance happened until we passed through
the Delaware Reservation. There we
struck the buffalo range, and also found
plenty of antelope. We then had change
OF diet, although we had been supplied
with fresh meat from the herd of beef
cattle we had been driving along. Buffalo
meat was pretty tough, unless we killed
young one. Antelope was tender. but
we could not get very many of these, as
we could not get close enough to shoot
theH i ne way TO get them was taught
to us by Delaware Indian; it was to tie
red handkerchief to the ramrOd of n
gun. After we got as close as we could
to the herd one man would hold the ram
roo and handkerchief up so the antelopes
could see them. This would attract their
attention, and another of us would 20
around and slip up on the other side.
Generally he would get good shot. some
times killing them and sometimes not, ac-
cording to how much of that complaint
called the buck ague" he was troubled
with.
After we got into the buffalo range we
moved rapidly on and went into camp on
a small stream that we supposed to be a
tributary of the Usage River. Here we
stayed in camp three weeks, waiting on
the surveyors and Capt Clark, and, as
the boys said, waited on him to count the
stars"
l forgot to state we left Fort Leayen-
worth about April ], and we were gone
on this trip just six months to a day.
We moved from this camp on the small
stream to the main body of the Usage
River, where we canped on the site of
an old Usage Indian village. We had
been in camp about three days when
courier brought a dispatch from the sur
veyors that the Comanche Indians were
about to cut them off from the command.
The Colonel ordered h-boots and saddIes'
sounded, and We We're not very long get
ting IN readiness. We fell in line and
started at double-quick. When we reached
the surveyors we found with them scout,
VINO reported the Indians about four miles
fI 10 GnTIth 90