The herald. [volume] (New Orleans, La.) 1905-1953, 1912-11-07
A Woman S
Vigilance
By CARROLL n. PIERCE


pancy Of the continent to the annihila-
ton Of General Custer and his Ill fated
command. Yet this last great event
of the long struggle with the aborigines
Of the country occurred but a genera
ton agone.
There still lives a woman more than
ninety years OF age who passed through
one of these Indian events. At twenty
she was married to lieutenant In the
army on duty in the east, but who had
been ordered to a small fort in what
was then the far west. Immediately
after the wedding the couple started
for the officers station, pursuing their
way by canal, stagecoach and. lastly.
an army supply wagon.
At that time there were white men
in that region who were worse than
the Indians in that they often melted
the latter TO piuage and blOodshed.
They were not the settlers, but a class
Of desperadOes that are always found
lounging about the skirmish line of the
advancing army of civilization.
Mrs. Lieutenant-we shall call her
Whittlesey-found herself in a one COM
pany post. and, the company's captain
being absent and her husband being
the ranking officer. he was comman-
dant. Indeed, there was but one other
officer there. and Mrs. Whittlesey was
the only woman among some sixty
men. Indians now and again would
come into the fort, and their appear
ance was quite enough to scare wo-
man out Of her senses, for Of all the
names most appropriate to these peo-
ple-Indians, redskins, savages-the last
is the most appropriate. They looked
savage and acted savage. were fierce
in their natures and made themselves
hideOus to correspond with what they
were.
One day a dirty white man clad In
skins came into the fort and. claiming
to be a settler. told pitiful story or
a wife and children at some distance
from the garrison who were having a
hard time His little girl had been
shot by an Indian with barbed ar
row and the father wished to cut IL
out. Would the surgeon let him have
some chloroform?
The surgeon gave him the chlOro-
form. telling him how to use 1t and
the precautions he must take. Then
the man went away.
Though the redskins were at peace
with the whites. Mrs. Whittlesey
would not trust them. She did not
consider the post free from danger Of
attack at any time. 1t was nothing
more than a blockhouse or stockade
with raised platform for the sentries
to pace upon and little towers with
loopholes from which they might fire
upon an enemy II attacked.
One night Mrs. Whittlesey stole out
Of bed. leaving her husband asleep.
and. putting on some clothing, she
went out to inspect the guard. She
found one sentry nOdding and another
fast asleep. She took the sleeper's
musket and awakened him to see him
self covered by a woman with his own
gun.
Mrs. Whittlesey told her husband in
the morning that she had gone out and
found the guard unwatchful. Though
knowing that sleeping on post is death
to a sentry. she made no definite
charges. The commandant endeavor-
ed to arouse his guards to greater eff
cheney, but his efforts were short lived,
Mrs. Whittlesey, being a woman, was
discredited in the matter. and her hus-
band told her to make no more visits
to the guards lest she put him. as
commandant, in a ridiculous position.
One night the lady, not having a
mans confidence In the peacefulness
Of the Indians, got stealthily out Of
bed and went to assure herself that
the guards were awake She found
three Of the four nodding, while the
fourth had sunk down unconscious,
his musket lying beside him. But
what especially attracted her attention
was strong odor of chloroform.
1t was this odor that led her to sus-
pect an especial danger and to make
an observation. Rising on tiptoe, she
saw a dark body moving toward the
fort. Selling the unconscious sentry's
gun, she ran to the nearest tower and
through the narrow slit left for firing
sent a bullet into the coming warriors.
Her shot was a twofold advantage.
1t showed the Indians that their COM
ing had been detected and reused the
garrison. The former hesitated few
minutes, then continued their advance,
sending arrows and bullets against the
stronghold.
Men came pouring up from below
In their night clothes, among them the
commandant He saw fire fash from
one Of the towers, and the next mo-
ment his wife came out, blood drip
ping from her right arm. She swoon-
ed In his arms.
The stratagem Of the savages, which
had been conceived by the white man,
who had begged the chloroform, had
been averted by the watchfulness of
the only woman of the garrison. Not
a man but hung his head in shame,
while their commanders assurance
was only kept up by his pride in his
wife's feat.
Mrs. Whittlesey's wound was not