Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1914-06-18

NNN''' ~ i''S' 'AiSo 'NaoES N"C "
nado del Muerto (Journey Of DEATH
!! plateau. his fainting and almost
wholly exhausted column crept down
basalt boulders that surface the west
escarpment of the plateau. where it
breaks down to the Rio Grande at the
little Mexican placita of Valverde.
He arrived to find that stretch of
the river held by a Unionist force un
der General Candy, largely inferior to
his own in numbers, but fresh-and
interposed between him and what his
men We're dying for, water.
Retreat, or even a detour impos.
sihle, an immediate action was newt
able. and was fought, virtually to the
defeat of Sibley, notwithstanding Can
by finally was forced to retire before
his superior numbers, but only after
Sibley's losses had been so heavy that
his force was badly crippled.
Shortly thereafter emergencies
along the Missouri compelled the
transfer of nearly all of the few regu-
lar troops remaining in Colorado. New
Mexico, and Arizona to the eastern
field, leaving rare old Kit Carson and
his skeleton regiment of Coloradeans
and New Mexicans-nearly all of
Mexican blood, who still hated the
Tejanos of their day as bitterly as
their fathers had hated the men, of
Goliad and San Jacinto-as the only
guard of the scattered local settle
ments, the only bulwark against a
new Confederate invasion.
Aol ~ ~,o,o woe +b;o ,>o,J,. lofa-H
sible situation developed than. acting
under the impulse Of a common STRAIT.
egg but wholly independent of each
other. Navajos. Apaches and Conan
ches began a relentless war On all the
southern overland routes. on ranches
and settlements, that lasted a year
after the conclusion of the Civil war.
1t a just at this juncture that
Colonel Cartoons California column
passed through Tucson and entered
upon four years Of as hard campaign
ing and trying actions as any troops
of any country ever had to face.
Some day | hope a faithful hand
will write the history of Il grand old
column. beginning it before taps has
been sounded over the last of US
and even now not so many Of US are
able to answer roll call.
At the general history OF the col
umn's work I can make NJ attempt;
our regiments. and even the com
panies, were usually so widely scat
bodies that hardly any member of
the column could do more. than tell
his personal experiences and obser-
vations. That is all shall undertake
"a simple tale of happenings to me
or to my immediate mates.
Strangers to any color of restraint
of themselves, much less by others.
neither Peach nor Cox could stand
army discipline. and thus were in per-
petual hot water with their troop
Nothing prevented their being cash
tered. or worse, but the fact that for
any desperate emergency that called
for straight shooting, reckless cour.
age backed by cool heads, they were
soon found to be worth any ten men
in their regiment.
Thus when. early in his service.
Peach first shot one man and later
cut another-both affairs over some
trivial mess dispute-he was lucky
enough to escape with only a few
days in irons.
In each instance some scout or vi
ditte work became necessary. for
which his colonel preferred trusting
him to any other. For, no matter
what his violence and characterization,
to his oath and colors Peach stayed
true to the end of his enlistment.
OH w