Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1909-03-20
RON TRUE TALES OFTHB PLAINS"


made the plains as active rs picnic
party or a hornets nest is not cXaGger-
alton He kept Fort Phil Kearny praC-
tically invested for n year, and with
predatory bands, sent here and there
over the plains, he carried devastation
and destruction to the most uncXpect-
ed quarters, possessing as he did an
organization that, conditions permit
ting. made his force as effective as
light horse cavalry However, the in
vcntive genius and commercial spirit
of the white man in shop and factory
was actively engaged in producing fire
arms so improved that, like the needle
gun in the Prussians' hands in the Eu-
ropean wars Of 1866 to 1872, they Gre
ated in his simple mind an astOnish-
ment that he could not believe or
dream Of until he suffered from a fear
full demonstration of the fact. Myself
and others, of course, kept up our per
sonal pull" by adopting every i'm
provcment from the old muzZle loader
to the breechloading Springfield and
the reporters Henry, Remington and
Winchester-w which gave us often the
necessary protective advantage. This
Improvement in arms was destined n
little over a year after the Fetterman
massacre to give Red Cloud and "Mr.
Injun" the surprise of their lives and
something to think of as dad medi-
cine"
Savage as we have called him, the
Indian In his primitive state was most
all circumstances and conditions to the
Supreme Being always appealing for
guidance, assistance and success to the
Great Spirit Whether 1t was in fol-
lowing the chase for subsistence, sue
cess in war, for rapine, murder, plum
der or horse stealing, for abundance
in crops and grasses or in ConQuests
in love, he was strikIngly imbued with
the necessity of the Great Rulers
friendly assistance, or Good Medi-
cine" Failure in all these pursuits he
attributed to the preponderating in
nuence Of the Evil Spirit" or Bad
Medicine" So after several cam.
paigus Of continued success, the reader
can imagine the surprise, not to say
CONSERVATION and depression, that re
suited from his audacious attempt to
at last annihilate the garrison at Fort
Phil Kearuy. He assembled nearly
5000 warriors for this purpose, all
well equipped with carbines and muz-
zle leaders, but was unaware that the
fort had been supplied with the new
Allen modification of the Springfield
breechlOading rifle. Besides the rifles
mighty well equipped for close-in
fighting with the bow and arrow
With the latter In time Of war and In
a close fight with the whites an eX-
pert archer could keep up a stream of
these death dealing missiles with a
rapidity equaling the best Winchester
Of today and limited only to the num-
Der of arrows, a hundred or more, that
his quivers held. In the scheme of
battle that Red Cloud had designed on
this occasion he had intended to over
whelm, even at great loss the ability
VI q llIuHHlN iOlhllIS CllILllg W WILL
stand his attack backed with the ar
row experts, whose work would be far
superior to that of the revolver This
had been done in minor engagements
successfully, but had never been tried
on as complete a scale as Red" in
tended 1t on this OCCASION though the
idea just simply happened a little too
late. Suddenly investing the fort, he
found the wood train as he thought,
In exactly the same condition as it had
been under FetteTman, but experience
had taught the troops, who. armed
magnificently and under the capable
lead Of Captain James W. Powell and
Lieutenant Jenness, had been long pre-
pairing for defense In case of surprise
In hauling the timber and wood for
winter use the wagon beds were not
used, the wood and timber being car
ried upon the running gears, and the
wagon beds were used to form an OBJ
long corral, with openings at each end,
so that In emergency they could be
closed by wagons which had the beds
on them. The wagon beds were used
to store all the camp equipage cloth
ing, cOmmissaries, etc. while re-en-
forced with sandbags and anything
that would stop a bullet. and. If re-
member correctly, they were lined
with boiler iron, with rife lOophOIes
AS preliminary to the attack on the
fort. Red Cloud thought to repeat the
FCttCrman result and sent about 500
picked men to surround the little cor
raj, to which Powell and the woodmCn
had retreated, numbering thirty-two in
the tops of the wagon beds to screen
the defenders from observation and
save them perhaps from the III effects
Of the arrow fire ut close quarters.
There was plenty Of ammunition and
plenty Of rifles. Every man had at
least three and some no fewer than
eight Some men who were not CON
Sdcrcd deadly shots were told off to
keep cleaning up for the others. There
was n quartet Of old frOntierSmen. led
by one renowned as a dead shot, Joe
Meriville, and others whose names at
the present time | sincerely regret that
| cannot remember who averaged
eight or ten weapons apiece Powell
himself took one end of the corral and
Jenness the other, and everything was
prepared to give the naughty Sioux a