The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1904-09-22
'Patronize One Another"

at low ebb, and some suffering was In
store for us. The general direction of the
tributaries on which we expected to camp
was west, they flowing into the Repub-
lican River and Smoky Hill Fork, put
bearing too much to the east the trail was
soon lost, and entering a dry and arid
! region, we were soon suffering from thirst
md all creeks seemed to have vanished.
At p. m. of the second day, with empty
canteens and barrels, the command was
rapidly becoming demoralized. Such was
the conditions that the officers abandoned
column formation and allowed-or rather
were powerless to preventive men from
scattering in squads in their mad search
for water, and sent others mounted on
mules to the north. hoping that they might
reach the Platte River and procure water.
Surrounding pork barrel in wagon
were five men making effort to drink the
brine. and apparently oblivious to their
surroundings. Many grew delirlous-
notably the largest men-and threw them
selves on the buffalo grass. refusing to go
on. Others struggled along In pairs
among them the writer. The rapidity with
which they were oyerpowered by this ter
rible thirst could only be explained by the
fact that the southerly wind filled the air
with sand from the ravines, and they had
been subsisting for days upon rations OF
salt horse, the weather being extremely
hot, nevertheless, a member of the party
who had once seen shipwrecked, declared
shat he suffered no worse at sea than on
this occasion. Scattered over the country
i'll groups, many left in the rear, others
preaching butte of considerable height,
and. accompanied by two of the strongest
men. the writer made his way to the sum-
NIT. and was we'll repaid for the struggle,
for away to the north could be seen a
silvery thread marking the course of that
strange river, the Platte. All those who
were able to walk struggled on, and al
though we never reached the river that
day. the Inequalities of large Mormon
train bound for Salt Lake were eagerly &C
cepted and water furnished in abundance.
while we found ourselves only three miles
west of Jack Marrow's ranch, on the old
stage road to Julesburg. The remainder
of the night was devoted to bringing in
the disabled. wagons loaded with food and
drink being sent for that purpose as far
as 20 miles. and camp was established,
where we remained five days for recupera-
ton without losing a man. Of the men
who showed signs of distress and were
left in the rear at that time. IL were after
ward victims of the Phil Kearny massacre
the following December. among them Gam
ford. bugler. he being the only man who
was not scalped by Red Clouds band, and
this in the service was always explained
by saying that owing to his very dark
complexion. he was mistaken for a half
breed. thereby escaping the knife, as the
savages never scalp person with Indian
blood in his veins
Harvey s. Deming, a native of Ellis
worth. Me-, was also victim, and al
though he was on duty in the mess hall
on the day of the massacre. and was never
detailed. he persisted in saddling his horse
and accompanied the command of Col.
Fetterman. only to share the sad fate of
% officers and men. He enlisted with the
writer of these few lines and for many
months previous we had been good friends.