The Bamberg herald. [volume] (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, 1905-05-11

s ~ 8 the Dog Soldiers were
& l. i camped days ride from
~ep there. Porcupine Bear was
the chief of the Dog Soldiers.
The Dog Soldiers determined that
they would make a war expedition
against the Kiowas and Comanches,
and they sent Porcupine Bear to the
main camp to ask the rest of the peo-
pie to join them.
After Porcupine Bear had reached
the camp and had delivered his mes
sage some one there who had whisky
gave him some. A good many people
got drunk, and some men began to
fight. Little Creek had Lean Bear, one
of Porcupine Bears relations, down on
the ground, and was cutting him with
his knife, when Lean Bear called on
Porcupine Bear, who was also drunk,
to help him. When his relation called
on him for help Porcupine Bear stabbed
Little Creek, and his cousin then took
the knife and killed him. After this
Porcupine Bear and all who were con-
cerned in the killing were sent away
from the Dog Soldiers, and the COM
mand of that body was given to White
Antelope and Little Old Man. The
Dog Soldiers and the rest Of the Chey-
ennes now came together to consider
the question of the expedition against
the enemy.
This happened in the year 1888, and
the men who took part in the killing
were nephews Of White Thunder, then
the keeper of the medicine arrows.
For the offense they were outlawed,
and were not permitted to remain with
the main village, but were obliged to
travel and encamp by themselves, OF
to one side. There were very few
lodges of them, less than dozen men
in all. Soon after this the whole camp
started south to find the Kiowas and
Comanches. All the Kiowas, Co.
manches and Apaches were together,
and moving against them from the
north were all the Cheyennes and Ara
pahoes together.
The outlaws, though not permitted to
camp or to remain with the main vii
lage, accompanied it, travelling and
camping by themselves, two or three
miles to the westward. They were in
constant touch with the main camp.
and kept themselves informed of all
that was happening.
After leaving the Arkansas River the
Cheyennes and Arapahoes were send
ing out frequent parties Of scouts to
locate the Kiowa village. The first
men sent out were Pushing Ahead and
Crooked Neck. They had been strictly
ordered to find the village if possible,
but on no account to attack any In
dams they might see. One day as
they were watching from hill over
looking Wolf Creek they saw two men
coming down the stream, carrying
shields and leading horses-evidently
two Kiowas who had been on the war
path. The Cheyennes watched them
pass down the stream, and then re-
turned to the camp and reported, say
ing that they believed the camp must
be lower down on the stream.
The Cheyennes and Arapahoes con-
tinued to move. on south. From
Crooked Creek, Wolf Road and Gentle
Horse, with five or six others, were
sent out to locate the camp. These
scouts were sent out after the ordinary
custom of the tribe. The chiefs assem-
bled in the centre Of the circle and
called out the names Of men whom
they knew to be swift runners and not
afraid, ordering them to come to the
centre of the circle. When they had
come. the chiefs told them that they
had been chosen to go out to look for
the enemy. and that each one must do
his best. The chiefs told them all they
knew as to where the enemy's camp
might be, told them where the village
would stop each night for the next few
days, so that they could readily find it,
and ordered them not to leave the
camp in the daytime, but to start after
night had fallen.
Following these orders the scouts
had gone on almost to Wolf Creek, and
were travelling along in the bed of a
little stream running into it from the
north, when suddenly they saw people
coming over the hills, prepared to run
the buffalo, which were all about them.
The Cheyennes lay down in the high
grass of the creeks bottom and saw
the Kiowas killing buffalo. One man,
riding big bay mule, drove bunch of
buffalo close by them, and killed sew
eral on the hillside, not more than
forty yards away. The mule was fast;
he kept among the buffalo all the time.
Afterward the mans wife and Mexi-
can came along and cut up the animals
and took the meat to camp. Wolf
Road, Gentle Horse and the other
scscts saw all this through the grass.
Just at sundown, after all the people
had gone. the Cheyennes left the creek
and climbed to the top Of the hill and
saw the smoke of the camp and the