The Hardin tribune-herald. [volume] (Hardin, Mont.) 1925-1973, 1934-02-09

DRY, and was a good story teller. We
soon found that while he was q native
Of Canada, born near New London, he
had gone to Wisconsin as a youth, be-
ing employed in the lumber woods when
the wal broke out. He enlisted, he said,
lin the sixth Wisconsin volunteer in
fantry, first brigade-'the Iron Brigade
first division, first army corps, Army of
the Potomac-the Iron Brigade con-
sisted of the second, sixth, and seventh
Wisconsin, the nineteenth Indiana and
the twenty-fourth Michigan"
He talked Of Bragg, Doubleday, Mere
dith, aid in fact all of his brigade COM
manders, as if he knew them personal
ly. He saw Gen. Reynolds killed on the
first day of Gettysburg. He was him
self wounded at Antietam, Gettysburg,
and in the Wilderness, and great scars
upon his body and legs bore evidence of
savage wounds. I knew a good deal of
the history of the Army of the Potomac
at the time (my father had a book bear
ing that title which I had devoured)
and have read considerable on the SUBJ
ject since, and it has always been a
marvel to me how a private, an un-
learned man, could have known as
much about the grand strategy of the
campaigns, as we'll as of the details of
the great battles fought between the
Army of the Potomac and the Army of
Northern Virginia as Tom Robinson
knew; and he told us day after day
of the intimate life of the soldier in the
ranks, in the hospitals, and on fur
Tough.
Then came a hiatus in his life history
which he never told, ending with his
arrival on the Yellowstone about 1875.
He wa employed for a considerable
period by Hoskins & McGirl at or about
could not remember any man during
that period named Tom Robinson, nor
one named Isaac Gillespie, which was
the name of this mar when he was a
private in the sixth wisconsin,; in 1876
he was a scout and courier for General
Terry, and he was on the Custer bat
tlefield on the morning of Jure 81,
1875, arriving almost simultaneously
with Lieutenant Bradley, with his In
dian scouts; Tom always claimed his
mission was to deliver a message from
Terry to Custer. He helped bury the
dead, but as should be known, by this
time, the dead, except a very few, were
|lOU OuTIGU u1lG1 uluCU 4dGST.
During the years following, Tom
vas a buffalo hunter, employing
SINNERS: he was a fine shot, but I think
he drew the long bow when he told us
of his kills; and for some years he was
a trapper.
Why did he come to our country in
such secrecy? Toms knowledge of
ranch work was comprehensive; he
could do almost anything; and he was
a tireless worker. His principles were
good; none but good advice and adj
monitions came from Tom. Mrs. Will
liams wondered why he was a drifter;
why he had come ON foot and almost
in rags. We found out after Tom had
worked four or five months; he drew
his wages, went to Virginia and drank
steadily until every cent was gone, and
then he returned sick and dispirited. It
was a part of his life story; no dog re-
turned to his vomit with greater per-
sistency. But his companionship gilded
the gold of a wonderful summer; each
boy schemed for a place in the bayfield,
and about the ranch that would keep
him with Tom. But Tom was no good on
the range, and when the fall roundup
started we left him to grovel on the
ranch while we reveled in the free life
of a range rider.
In passing, I should say that after
harvest the Captain again took us boys
above the canyon and we again camped
at Cottonwood. This time the weather
was glorious, game plentiful, life pleas
ant; the Captain again tended camp.
He was no game hog; he insisted that
we should not kill too many grouse.
When he thought we were getting too