Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1910-02-24

He reached the side of the wounded Dodds, raised him
and started back with him across the strip of hell. Twice
he staggered, as volleys rang out, but he reached the
side of his comrades and placed Dodds between Nelson
and the unwounded trooper.
Then Hans Mueller fell dead.
Relief came to the surviving cavalryman. The two
wounded lived. In the little cemetery at a post in the
far northwest there is a headstone which is inscribed:
Hans Mueller, Trumpeter and Soldier. His courage
was bullet proof"
There passed through the gates of Fort Myer the
other day a man with coal black face and snow-white
hair. His bearing was military to a degree, notwith-
standing the fact that he limped painfully. His Shout
ders were thrown back and his head erect and carried
with a probably conscious air of pride. The limp in the
gait, however, was so marked that an observer, If he
gave the subject any thought at all, would know that
this negro would never run a step in his life.
The name Of the Fort Myer visitor was and is Henry
Johnson, one time of Troop X, Ninth United States cav
airy. If certain Of the soldier officers and enlisted men
of the coored outfit of Uncle Sam had known that the
thought that this limping ex-soldier would never run
again had entered into an onlookers mind, he probably
would have said: NO., Johnson never will run again, but
if he could have kept up the gait that he once showed
these 100-yard sprinting records that we hear so much
of in this day of sports would be headed by another and
the name of the holder would be Henry Johnson"
There isn't the slightest doubt among cavalry officers
who have long memories that thes worlds champion
sprinter was lost to track fame when Henry Johnson,
colored trooper went lame rs years ago.
In the month of November, 1879, a band of Ute Indi-
ans surrounded a small command of United States regu-
lars, composed for the greater part of Troop X, Ninth
colored cavalry. There was for a while the heaviest
kind of fighting, and at close quarters. Finally the reds
retreated a little way, but still held their Gordon Of
braves intact. The temporary withdrawal for a short
distance did not give the troops a breathing spell, for
they set to work at once to intrench. They succeeded,
with their horses and impediments and by a vigorous
use of the shovel, in forming and in throwing up a fairly
strong defense bulwark. After this had been done small
parties, under cover of the rifles of their comrades, went
out to a considerable distance from the entrenchment
and there dug rife pits at intervals in a circle about the
inner and stronger defense.
Into these welIcovered rifle pits guards were dropped
with a plentiful supply Of ammunition and such little
water and provender as could be spared. There was
one man in each pit. They were absolutely protected
from the front and they were put there to perform the
usual useful duty expected where troops are thus be-
sieged. Unless the Utes actually succeeded in getting
into these pits, the men there were safer than were
those behind the extemporized fertilization in the center.
After the pickets had been placed in the pits and the
fatigue and posting parties had returned to the central
point of defense, the Indians drew in. The red circle
was drawn closer and closer and the bullets from the
Ute rifles tore through, the frail parts Of the barricade
and soldier after soldier was killed or wounded.