The National tribune., 1911-01-05
SCOUTING In The INDIAN COUNTRY.
Some Narrow Escapes of An Old Indian Hunter under
Generals Crook, Canby Custer and others.
By MOTT r. SAWYERS.
(To whom Edwards narrated these events.)


Is George, but I am known as "Modoc
Edwards on account of my scouting
against the Modoc Indians. / do no
> know where 1 was born or when, bu
I think 1t was in the year 1S49. NJ
parents were Scotch-Irish. Ny fathe
was an English soldier and fought il
the Crimean war He became a Ser
geant- Major and had charge on tn
Orange River in South Africa. Th
Government granted him a furlougl
and permission to come home on ;
= man-of-war That was a mark of hon
or. On the way home he died not fa1
from st. Helena and was buried a
sea. 1 never saw him. My mother
told me this. 1 was very young at til,
time she told me. ] do not know
much about my mother. do not know
how she came to America, nor whether
: was born here. About the frs
thing can remember is selling paper:
on the streets of New York. 1 came
home one time and my mother was moi
there. 1 never saw her again. / have
no idea what became of her. l had
to live, so kept on selling papers.
When the war broke out l read the
war news. l tried several times to en-
list, but was rejected on account of my
age. During the excitement that fol-
lowed the capture of New Orleans
tried often. One Sunday in 1864 tho
7th VT. came marching down Broad
way. / followed and slipped on the
boat with the soldiers. No one asked
me for my ticket. The soldiers let me
eat with them. We landed at New Or
leans and marched to the Louisiana
Cotton Press, an immense building
with a sentry right at the gate. The
= sentry looked the most like war of any
thing yet, and I was glad to see him
There / enlisted in the 161st N. Y.
told them ! was IS. / was about Is.
liked everything about the army right
from the start. / remained in that reg
iment until the war was over; then
enlisted in the 1st U. S. Cav, and was
assigned to duty in California and Ore
gon. l never got tired of caring for
my horse and enjoyed shaping him up
and soon became an expert horseman
Learning the Indian.
I studied the Indians every time
got a chance. l mingled with them in
their villages, and learned the Indian
sign-language. l learned their ways OF
Initiating animals and insects, and
learned to detect them in the chirrup
of a cricket or the distant hoot of the
owl or call of the coyote. 1 learned
to distinguish between the real sounds
and their imitation by the Indians, bu,
not always. At first 1t was curiosity
with me, but it soon got TO be a regu-
lar business.
1 became a scout under Gen. Crook
serving in that capacity against the
> Piute Indians. Later l served as q
scout against the Modocs under Gems
Candy, Wheaton and Gillem, and after
ward under Gen. Custer. When 1 was
scout for Wheaton he was defeated by
capt jack in the Lava Beds and re-
Geved of his command.
The Indians had the advantage OF
position and shot our men all to pieces
and we could not even see where the
shots were coming from. 1t was ter
rible, but 1t was not Wheaton's fault
Wheaton was brave man. After he
was relieved Candy took charge ir
person. Candy was one of the hand
eomest men l ever saw. and everyone
trusted him. / was the first person to
reach Gen. Candy after he was shot
He should never have gone to meet
the Indians that day. We were al
against 1t. l knew those Indians, and
knew them to be bad Indians. One OF
the squaws sent word not to come. The
tent where they met was about half a
mile away. ] saw puffs of smoke and
heard some say, They are firing or
the commission We grabbed our
guns and ran as fast as we could
There was no command and no forma-
tion. We got there as quick as we
could, and l rushed to the General the
first thing. The Indians We're out o;
reach. The General was bloody and
his clothes were torn off.
After Candy died Gillem was in COM
mand, and / was one of his scouts
to find out all l could and report tC
him. There was scattered firing more
or less all the time, but the Indians
were SO strongly fortified that we
could not reach them. They were fire.
Quently In sight and would taunt oui
men. But one day they disappeared
No one knew where they were. They
had some secret passages in the lava
beds.
A GhostIy Find.
The Eight before they went l wa.
sent from Gillem's tent to Hospita
Rock. On the way 1 came across two
or three boxes of ammunition in the
bushes. ] could not understand it, bu
went on A short distance further
found a Lieutenant, dying. He wa.
just breathing his last. took off my
coat and laid ii over his head and wen
: on-rOn my return the Lieutenant wa,
Eere, but the boxes of ammuni
re gone. The Indians had beer
out their ammunition tina
then the Lieutenant had discov
hem and had been shot. Thel
pdl around me when 1 found him
I'd did not shoot for fear of attract
ing attention.
One day Maj. Thomas, who cam'
after the war commenced, took abou
nunnen and some friendly Indians Il
u ne could find the Modocs. The!
led out, marching thru the iav:
Thomas did not know anything
Ft lighting Indians; neither did hi
About noon 1 saw puffs o
Ike and could see some men runnin;
jumping from rock to rock lik
ing terrible had happened. In two o
rec hours some stTagglers reaehe,
1lem's tent and said that Thomas
6mmand had been ambushed an,
billed:
Gillem Immediately sent out a relic
expedition, and / accompanied il a
scout. A little after daylight we cam
. upon them. 1 have seen plenty of mel
dead, but that was the worst sight
ever saw. They had stopped to ca
their dinner, with no guards out.
counted Is dead in one depression.
was like teacup, and the Indians ha'
gathered around the rim and kille'
the men before they could get read
were eating. There were a few of tn
command alive. We waited aroun,
there until dark, for we We're afrai,
70 try TO take the men out in the light
Night of Terror.
We had not slept the night befor
and were on a nervous strain carin,
for the dead and wounded all day, be
sides watching the Indians. Soon afte
dcrk we aet out on orr return Their