The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1916-12-12

l NarcnlnS slowly across the plains hi | little force reached Fort Reno Jun 28, 1866. This force consisted of 70
 men, four pieces of artillery and 22
 wagons and ambulances; the latte 1 contained the wives and children O
 several of the officers. Two hundre
 veterans of the Civil war were in tn
 command, but the rest were raw re
 cruits, and while there was an occa
 s1onal Spencer carbine the old mug zle loading Springfield musket was tn | prevailing weapon. The officers when they left Fort Laramie, felt tha the council then in session ther
 would obviate hostilities in the coun l try into which they were going; tha some of them were actually certain o this is proved by their decision tha the presence of their wives and chil dren on the expedition was unaccom panied by a risk, a decision, which in the terrible days that followed, wa bitterly repented.
 Indians Everywhere.
 It was only a few days after For Reno was reached that an attack b, l the Sioux, under the leadership of Rec | Cloud, disclosed but too plainly tha the expedition was to be one of war, war with foes savage and merciless, { war, moreover, whose chief menace and terrors were for the women, for ir all the history of the troubles witl the western Indians there was not ar instance where a captive white wo. man had escaped fate to which death would have been a welcome al. formative.
 At Fort Reno Darlington left 200 of his men as a garrison, and, with the remaining 500, continued, on July g his advance into the hostile country On July 13 he established his camr near branch of the Powder river close to the Big Horn Range, in the northern part of Wyoming. Then on a ridge we'll suited for defense, he began the erection of a log fort.
 By the end of October this fort was practically completed, but ever at- tended by terrible danger. Around the soldiers the Sioux, still under Red Cloud, gathered by thousands The logging camp which supplied the need ed timber was seven miles distant from the fort; not only were Caring tons wood trains attacked again and again but also the building party, and thus, from it's very inception, the fort was in practically continuous state of seize. Men were repeatedly kill ed and scalped; in beating off the re- current attacks Carrington's four field pieces did yeoman service.
 Fort Phil Kearney.
 The post pas named Fort Phil Kearney, after the Union officer of that name who fell in the Civil war; It was a typical wilderness fort, 500 by 800 feet, surrounded by an eight foot stockade. The flag raised over it was one of the very first to float in the pres ent state of Wyoming.
 To establish the post which the government desired on the Big Horn river, ninety miles to the north, Car rington had, early in August, been compelled to deplete his force by two companies. This latter post was call ed Fort c. F. Smith. The projected post on the Yellowstone was never es- tablished; indeed, Darlington did not have men enough to properly garrison the two which he actually built.
 The completion of Fort Kearney brought no cessation in the fighting between the garrison and the Sioux who swarmed about it; the seeming permanence of the post arousing the Indians to frenzy. From August 1 to December 1 the latter killed 154 people, soldiers and citizens, wounded twenty, and captured 700 cattle, mules and horses. The actual demonstra- tions in force against the fort during this period numbered fifty-one, and there were attacks on every wood train that ventured from it. To prepare for the winter it was necessary to con- tinue the logging into December, heavily guarded trains were sent out whenever the weather permitted, and so severe were some of the attacks on these trains that detachments had to be sent from the fort to bring them in. And it was during this pe- riod that President Andrew Johnson congratulated congress on the result of the treaty made with the Indians been brought to all the western coun- try!
 Not Afraid of Redmen.
 To certain of the officers under Car rington the cautious policy of that general was 8 source of dissatisfac- tion. They had the then current idea that one soldier was better in fight than several Indians, and despite the fact that the fort was surrounded with 5000 or 5000 Sioux braves, they con- stantly urged that offensive expedi- tions be sent cut from the scanty gar rison. Captain and Brevet Lieuten- ant Colonel w. J. Fetterman the sen- for captain; Captain Frederick H. Brown, and few other officers told the general they could, with 800 men ride through the whole Sioux nation.' .'' Darlington saw, however, that this would mean annihilatien. The force in the fort, including soldiers, team sters and other civilians, numbered only 356, barely enough for adequate defense, and he vetoed every such suggestion. Furthermore, ammuni- ton was running low. Repeatedly Darlington appealed for supplies and endorsements, but the authorities at Washington were obsessed with the treaty made at Fort Laramie; they would not believe war actually existed, and ne relief was sent.
 The dissatisfaction among some of Carrington's officers at the caution of the general increased, and so anxious were the officers in question for a chance to distinguish themselves, that, Fetterman and Brown foremost among them, >1ey decided te utilize in full