Ottumwa semi-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1899-1903, 1903-08-18
AN INDIAN CAMPAIGN
GENERAL MILES PURSUIT OF
cHEYENNEs IN TEXAS.
RESCUE OF FOUR GIRL CApTlyES
Former Trooper Tells of Frontier Ex.
perience in 1s74-75 = An Indian
Massacre and Miles Expedition to
Punish the Guilty Indians.

perlence IN 1SI4-I5 - An Indian
Massacre and Miles Expedition to
Punish the Guilty Indians.
The recent retirement of General
Nelson A. Miles recalls to mind the ex-
) petition against the Cheyenne In
dams in the fall and winter of 1S74-5
and the spring of 1876 in the Indian
Territory and northern Texas A par
ticipant in the expedition who at pres
ent lives in Omaha, tells the follow
ing story:
The causes leading up to that ex-
petition were the outbreaks of the
southern Cheyennes along the Kansas
border A number of persons were
killed and large numbers of live
stock were run off into the territory by
the Indians. The buffalo were gradu-
ally but surely disappearing. The
troops then in that section of Kansas
were the Fifth United States infantry
and the Sixth United States cavalry
and the Fourth United States artillery.
A greater portion of the scouting
through Kansas devolved upon the
Sixth cavalry, while the Tenth United
4; States cavalry operated from the vi
entity of Fort Sill, and the Fifth Unit
q ed States infantry, then commanded
by Colonel Miles, operated from Fort
Dodge, Kansas The Sixth cavalry
headquarters were in the winter at
Fort Riley and in summer at Fort
Haynes, from which point the regi--
ment made regular and frequent recon-
noissance through southern and west
ern Kansas to keep watch an the
3 Cheyenne and Arapahoe Indians, who
were constantly raiding the frontiers,
and were extremely reluctant to re-
main on the Indian Territory reserva-
tions assigned to them.
Discovery of Hunting Party.
I'm the intervals of scouting duties
the troopers were often sent out on
hunting expeditions after buffalo, to
supply the post larders with that excel
lent, and then plentiful, meat. 1t was
on one of these hunting expeditions
that party Of the Sixth cavalry dis
covered on the Smoky Hill river bot
toms, some twenty or more miles
southeast of Wallace the mutilated
remains of the Jerman family, who it
was afterwards learned had passed
through Wallace enroute to Texas
about a week previous. The wagons,
two in number, had been burned, and
one of the men, in addition to nameless
mutilations, was partly burned with
the wagons. The elder Jerman was ly-
ing some distance from the wagons,
his body fearfully bloated and mutilat-
ed. Both men were stark naked and
3 were also scalped Nearer the river
lay Mrs. Jerman, in a partly nude
state with an arrow sticking in her
breast. She too, was scalped and 9th
erWise mutilated. Two of the oxen
and two mules had also been killed
with arrows. All of the bodies were in
an advanced state of decomposition
and all of them were partly torn and
deyoured by wolves and buzz
yards that had been feast
ing on them, but were scared
away by our presence. Inc remains
were found about September 5, 1874,
and had evidently been killed two or
three days previous. We buried the
three bodies in one grave in the sand,
and, marking the spot, returned to
Fort Wallace to report the CHASTITY
find
''The arrows found in the bodies in
Dictated that the murderers were of
the Cheyenne tribe, and the trail they
left behind them showed that they
had crossed the Smoky Hill, going
southeast.
q AT Wallace we learned that the Jer-
man party had originally consisted of
Mr.. and Mrs. Jerman, a son and four
daughters. OF the latter two were
young women, aged Is and 20 respec-
lively, and two little girls aged and
years. The girls had all evidently
been taken as captives with the Chey-
ennes.
Pursuit Promptly Made.
After reporting at Fort Wallace
we were at once ordered to proceed
back to Fort Hayes, where an eXpe-
dition was at once started out in pur-
suit OF the Indians, with the intention
OF recovering the girls before they
crossed over into the Indian Territory
for which point they were evidently
making. The intelligence of the mas
sacre and capture spread very rapid
ly, and orders were sent out from the
headquarters of the department of
the Missouri to hasten the formation
of an expedition from all available
troops in that section, to rendezvous
at Fort Dodge, on the Arkansas Gen
eral Nelson A. Miles was placed in
command of the expedition, and it
was not until November 1 that the ex-
petition set out from Fort Dodge The
troops comprising the same were the
Sixth cavalry and Fifth infantry The
Tenth cavalry was ordered from Fort
Sill to join the expedition en- route,
and the Eighth cavalry. from Fort
Stanton, N M, was ordered to pre-.
vent the Indians from entering that
territory If too closely pressed by the
pursuing troops.
t'The Sixth cavalry and Fifth infan-