The Montgomery advertiser., 1903-03-01

Second Lieutenant with twelve of my classmates sent to Newport Barracks, Ky.. to instruct and drill recruits for the army. A year and half at thls post. having gotten off my brevet. was ordered to join my regiment, the 7th Infantry at Ringgold, Texas. Reaching Corpus Christi learned my company had gone overland to the Indian Territory re- turned via New Orleans, and the ArKah- sas River to Fort Gibson. l. T. This was another delightful post Four compAnles of the 7th Infantry, and bra'sss o
 terv of Light Artillery. My only serVice aside from the regular garrison uu'leS was in escorting the Indian Agent on his annual visit to the osage country, a very heautiful country and remarkapV fine looking tribe of Indians-hardly a man under, six feet-muscular and swnt os font The 50O braves in their war naint gave an exhibition of their oaAi nIav. It was a grand sight to my little etachment of twenty-five soldiers.
 Inst at this time the massacre or my classmate Grattan, and his escort rom Fort Laramie, occurred. The army was too small for the service required, and in 55 four new regiments were adoeo. was commissioned in the 10th Light Infantry Rifiemen and at once left the Indian Nation to recruit for my ne" repiment which was organized at Car Hsle Barracks, Penn. The regiment was then ordered West, my battalion to olo Fort Crawford, Wis, where was com mauder and Quartermaster or the post Tn 1856 I was staff officer to Col. C. F' smith in his exploring expedition to pambina His escort was two companies of the 10th Rihemen with train of thirty odd army wagons. We left Fort Smelling, which was then on the Northern tier or army posts. in July. Did not get back ill December. After crossinf the Schey- enne going north we headed for Devil Lake then to Pembina, crossing the Red River of the North and took the trail for St Paul On the 20th of September the first snow fell, and the first mule died of exhaustion. We then left the trail and attempted the exploration at the mouth of Seheyenne, where our troubles commenced Heretofore we were able to cross the marshes connecting lakes by cutting grass for a causeway; now the sheets of water that had to be passed over were from hundred yards to three miles in two cases. Crossing these so exhausted the mules that the men had to snake the wagons over with ropes, the mules would bog up and drown and the wagons dDdUQOneu we ludliy BOl hack to the east trail to find that the route through the smaller swamp was so crooked that the wagons could not fol- low it. so we were obliged to cut and >corduroy a road. We were two weeks in making twenty-five miles. Having fed so much of our flour to the mules we were on rice and molasses for a week before the supplies sent for to Fort Rip ley, l25 miles to the south, reached us. The shoes of the men had worn out. but the hides of the dead mules stretched over the worn shoes made A fine substi- ute for moccasins Winter set in, the whole face of the country was covered with ice two feet thick. We rolled on down to Fort Ripley without further trouble as to roads and reached Fort Smell ling having lost half of the animals we set out with. This ended one of the se- verest trips soldiers were often called on to make.
 Minnesota then included the two Da- kotas. fine grazing grounds for elk and buffalo. We had been out about two months, when the guide reported two buffalo in sight Under his direction we three lieutenants well mounted managed to get pretty close to them before making the first charge. wounding and enragine the bulls. We were not able to persuade our horses to get close enough for a vital shot, continued to pepper away at them, to the great disgust of the guide who at last said: Now. young gentle men. I will show you how to kill the buffalo" passing close by on his we'll trained horse delivered the fatal shot which brought down the bull We took the best of the meat to camp. where al sundown an immense elk arose out of Sb ba ht,ah fttcf he II. guard fired a volley. wounding him, and the hunters soon brought him in. The meat now from the buffalo and elk was distributed to the command. One of the soldiers so gorged himself on the lights of the elk that In two days we buried him on the banks of the Scheyenne. We were now as far from civilization as we could get being about midway from the settlement on the Mississippi and the