The Columbus journal., 1910-01-19

We often talked of that matter and
Crook repeatedly asserted that in his
official reports he had informed his
superiors the number of hostile In.
dams in his front, but they would not
believe him. They preferred to form
their conclusions from the reports Of
the Indian agents located at the var
ious agencies. Most of the Indians
were at the agencies during the pre-
vious winter and they drew as many
rations and as much supplies as they
possibly could in preparation for the
coming campaign. The Indian agents
were always the bitter enemies of
Crook and for very good reasons, for
wherever he was, he saw to it that
the supplies sent to the agencies were
delivered to the Indians.
1t was during the time that this
question of the ignorance Of the gener-
al officers concerning the number of
warriors the army would have to meet
was before the public that one evening
General Crook came to the Herald
editorial room bringing some letters
with him which he had written to his
wife just before or about the time he
started out on the old Bozeman trail.
l distinctly remember the contents of
one Of those letters. In it he told his
wife that he was going out to meet an
overwhelming number of hostile In.
dams, that the department would pay
no attention to his reports, but for her
TO not be over anxious, for knowing
what was before him he should so
handle his troops that he could always
defend himself. He would not spread
them out or divide his force at any
time, and no matter how fierce a fight
he got into, he would keep his eyes on
some defensive position where he
could quickly concentrate his whole
force. Then he added you need not
worry for Indians will not assault de-
fensive position. That is not accord.
ing to their tactics. Then if the In
dams continued to surround such a
position in overwhelming numbers and
cut off supplies, he would cut bis way
out and make rapid retreat. To that
end he had issued orders stripping Of
ficers and men of every article not alb
solutely necessary and they would al
ways be in light marching order.
Now of course that is written from
memory, but l am certain that it con.
tains the substance of the letter that
Crook had with him. In that order
Crook had enumerated just the articles
that officers and men should take, and
there was much feeling among his sub.
Ordinates because he had one officer
courtmartialed for disobedience of Or
ders in that he carried with him in his
inside coat pocket a small note book.
Crook was the only general in the
field who had means of getting accur.
ate information. Soon after he was
admitted tothe soldier lodge he learned
that he might with perfect safety EN-.
ploy Indian scouts, that any soldier"
would die rather than to lie to him, for
he believed that if he told a lie to a
brother member, something very terri
bic would happen to him. He would
die, break out with sores, or his family
would be afflicted with some dread
disease and totally extinguished.
Crook was the first officer to employ
Indian scouts, and it took him a long
time to get Washington authorities to
agree to enlist them. Afterwards, all
the generals employed them and no
Indian ever proved coward or false in |
any particular. They were always alb
solutely reliable and trustworthy. 1t
was through his faithful Indian scouts
that he obtained his accurate informa-
ton.
But there was some things that
neither Crook or l could ever find out.
They were things connected with what
were called the medicine men," and
were not part of the knowledge known
to members of the soldier lodge. One
of these things was often subject of
between us, but we knew
no more after we had finished talking
about it than we did when we began.
The swiftness with which information
is spread among Indians separated by
great distance is wonder to all men
who have been on the plains in those
lines. Harris records that Indians
around Bismark knew of the Custer
lefeat the same day that it occurred
while the whites knew nothing about