St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1902-12-13
WINTA
THE SIOUX MAIDEN
-
BY EDWARD B. CLARK.
NTELL. yes, if yon want it, sait
w the old cavalry sergeant to :

w tie Olu Cd\dilS seiSedHl ~ d
group of interested listeners. "Pll
tell you story. ! went last night to
see the play where the Indian girl
falls in love with young officer and
by her heroism saves the garrison
You've seen the play?''
"Yes." mis- hearers assented.
swell then I'll tell you story some
thing like that in the play. 1t was just
after the Kearney massacre, that is we
whites callit a massacre, but it as many
Indians had been killed IS there were
soldiers it would have been nothing
but fight, and say this though have
been regular for more than 80 years.
The whole country up toward what
afterward was the Custer battlefield
was filled with Sioux. There were
old Red Cloud. he was comparatively
young Red Cloud then, American
Horse. and some others, all big chiefs
and bad, who were on the war path
with bands of young bucks, and they
were burning and lifting hair when
ever they got a chance.
Il was a duty sergeant in the Elev-
enth cavalry at the time serving with
Il troop. With b troop we had been
following the trail of bunch of reds,
near the Grand river. We struck 'em
unexpectedly and killed some eight or
ten and lost four men ourselves. The
rest of the band scattered and got
away. but we made a queer capture.
No Indian on the war path ever takes
sQuaw along with him, that is, it he's
regularly on the war path, but that
busch had along with 'em the prettiest
Sioux girl anyone ever laid eyes on.
Indian girls amt pretty anyway. but
this one was, and you have my word
for it. She wasn't more than IS years
old. A lot of our men spoke the Sioux
lingo and we got her story. Her name
was Winta, and she was the daughter
of Sioux chief. She had gone down
Grand river way on visit to Sioux
village that was peaceful like. Her
father was a tough old warrior who
hated the whites. and he was now up
near the Black Hills.
"Wilta said she had become home
Sioux coming along and being headed
for her fathers headquarters, she had
asked IL EN- to take her home. Being
big chiefs daughter, the braves had
done as she requested.
'This wss along in October and the
weather was getting sharp. b and
Il had orders to go into winter quar-
tiers up Black Hills way. We knew we
had to get there pretty soon and pre-
pare things for long, hard time of
it. We didn't know what to do with
the girl. We couldn't leave her, and
so we took her along.
1--WE had young second lieutenant
with us. He was good-looking fel-
low, but if l mist say it he had con-
siderable conceiS. That's neither here
nor there, however. Winta, the Sioux
girl. was as modest a creature as any
prairie flower that ever grew. She
took shine, however, to the West
Point youngste1. and he was mighty
attentive to he1, though all in fair
and square way You can bet the old
major commanding our squadron
wouldn't a-had It any other way, for.
YOU see, a woman under the protection
of bunch of soldiers is safe. be she
red. white or yellow. Blake, that was
the Youngsters name, used to ride
alongside of Wfnta, and he saw to it
that she got the best bits OF buffalo
meat that the carcass afforded. She
used to hang her head on one side and
look at him jusc the way you've seen
many a white girl look. They're all
alike, these women.
well, we got up near the Black
Hills some time early in November,
and it was getting colder than sin. The
old major looked about for suitable
place for our winter camp and found
It under the shelter of some bluffs,
with plenty of water close at hand.
Our position was all right except
that we were pretty badly open on
one side in case of attack. but as
matter of fact we didn't think much
of that because there were sixty odd
of us and we thought we were good for
all the Sioux AMI northern Cheyennes
that were likely to come. We had the
Indian girl, Winta, with us yet, and
the major gave her tent by herself.