The National tribune., 1904-09-22

canoes and flats. as the transportation he
had to move his army with. 1t was at
| this time that he made that celebrated
speech. When his soldiers came in with
structed them to do, bringing along old
shotguns and muskets that were of no use,
he said if they were not satisfied with the
generosity of this Government they should
| emigrate to Mexico, and he denounced
more than half of them as being soldiers
whom he had never seen, stating that they
had stayed in the brush and along the
river banks in Arkansas until the moss
had grown upon their heads and backs.
From this speech of his came the cele-
brated saying of ''mossbacks."
n part of my corps fought under that
gallant General. y. j. Smith. in the Banks
campaign up the Red River. and there is
no doubt but that his generalship and the
lighting of the two divisions of the Six
teenth Corps saved that army from a great
defeat. The commander of one of his di-
visions. Gen. L. T.. &. Ransom. was a
school-mate of mine. and afterward came
TO me in the Atlanta campaign. and COM
manded a division under me in the Six
teenth Corps.
When | look at the history of all of the
operations west of the Mississippi River.
and see their results it is a great gratifi-
cation to me to know that all the cam
paigns. except possibly the one of Banks.
were victories for our side.
AN INDIAN CAMPAIGN.
When | returned to the command of
the Department of the Missouri in Novem-
Der. 1861, found all the Indian tribes on
the plains at war, occupying all the lines
or communication through to the Pacific,
and there was great demand from the
people upon the Government that those
lines should be opened. Gen. Grant sent
y tx.h s Al
plains could be made in the Winter. Hav
ing spent eight or ten years of my life
"pon the plains before the war. | an
:;wered that it could, if the troops were
properly fed and clothed. His answer to
that was to place all the plains and In
dian tribes within my command, instruct
ing me to make an immediate campaign
against them, and / had, therefore, to
move the troops that were at Leavenworth,
Fort Riley and other points onto the plains
N Midwinter. and think it was the 10Th
kanS. that had ID men frozen to death
on the march to Fort Kearny. Those
troops on that Winter march up and down
those stage and telegraph lines in 40 days
opened them up. repaired the telegraph
and had the stages running.
Then came the longer campaign of the
next Summer and next Fall. where Gen.
Coles command suffered so much. and
also where Gen. Conner fought the bat
tie of Tongue River. / remember of the
indians capturing company of Michigan
troops that were guarding train that
was going to Fort Halleck. loaded with
rations and bacon. They tied some of
the soldiers to the wheels of the wagons,
piled the bacon around the wagons. burn
ing them up. A band of this party of In
dams was captured by a battalion of
Pawnees. who were far north of them and
got on their trail and surrounded the band
that had committed these atrocities The
chief of them, an old man. came forward
and spoke to Maj. North. who comma nd
ed the Pawnees. and holding his hand up
to his mouth he said that he was full of
white men up to here. and was ready TO
die. The Indians virtually cleaned out the
white people along the stage lines they
captured. | took from them a great many
OF their prisoners in the Fall of 1865
when they came into Laramie TO make
peace. and the stories of the suffering of
the women were such that it would be inn
possible to relate them.
GALVANIZED YANKs"
In connection with this campaign on
the plains, it is singular fact that nearly
1000 Confederates took part. When
took command at ST. Louis | found the
prisons full of Confederate prisoners The
war was then virtually at it's end and they
were very anxious to be relieved from
prison life. and as we needed forces on
the plains, | obtained authority from the
War department TO organize what was
known as the United States Volunteers
and filled the regiments with these Con-
federate soldiers, placing over them as Off
GERS men and officers selected from our
own command. and thus organized very
effective force. which did excellent service
on the plains, three-quarters Of which re-
manned in that country after the war was
over