Glacier County chief. [volume] (Browning, Mont.) 1931-1940, 1940-02-23
By ELMO

I. Frontier life called for husky,
hardy men. They had to Withstand
Indictment weather, hardships, dan
! ger and an unusual amount of
plain and fancy getting by" far
from sources Of supplies. This was
particularly true during the seven
ties, when the army was trying to
- corral the Plains tribes of Indians.
Granville Stuart and others, during
the growth Of the cattle empires in the
eighties, made sighting references to
the lack of ability and judgment OF
the troops around the Indian agencies.
But the soldiers who followed the trails
Of the warning tribes in the Wyoming
country and along the Yellowstone in
the seventies had to be hardy men
indeed.
= Gen. George Crook made probably
the hardest Of all tests of men in his
late winter campaign of 1876.
General Crook had the year before
been transferred from Arizona to the
command of the department OF the
Platte, with headquarters at Omaha.
He had made wonderful record In
the southwest chasing the Apaches:
= In the department of the Platte he
had to change his tactics. The .Apaches
were poor horsemen, and depended
largely upon their own legs for trans
portation- They did much of their
fighting in the hills, where animals
were not easily used.
The northern Indians. on the other
hand, were acknowledgements morse,
men. They were also well armed and,
in a savage fashion, well trained IN
military tactics.
try had become so critical, due to the
wrath Of the Indians over broken
treaties, that it seemed simpler TO
round UP the Indians and place them
on the reservations than to keep white
4 poachers out OF the country that had
: been pledged to the Indians as their
own.
?. The lure Of gold the call of fortune
..in any occupation offering profit or
adventure, was enough to SEND Whlte
men into the Indian country entirely
in disregard of the red mans rights.
To avert a general war an effort was
launched to bring the scattered bandS
of Indians to the reservations and hold
them there until the trouble could De
settled.
Crook believed that a decisive VIC
tory over one of the larger bands in
the Big Horn mountain region In WIN
ter time would have Salutary erect.
1t would, he believed, weaken morale,
destroy so much property and, IN the
severe cold, break the spirit OF the IN
:dians so greatly that they would for
years to come be meek and docile.
. Crook Leaves Cheyenne
Accordingly, Crook set out from Fort
Russell, CHEYENNE, in March. 1876, with
10 companies of the Second and Third
cavalry He had SO mule wagons load
ed with forage, 4 ambulanceS similarly
: loaded and a pack train OF divisions
with 80 mules in each division.
. Crooks greatest fame, continuing to
today, lay in his care of his men and
equipment. His pack trains, their ef-
ficiency and dependability, were the
standard which the rest of the army
, tried to shoot at"
He planned carefully for his winter
expedition. The large wagon train was
prompted by the fact that grass would
4 be very limited. Much of the country
would have been burned over in the
fall by the Indians to promote lush
growth in the spring. Hard-packed
snow would make grazing impossible
in many places. The wagon train, load
be forted up as a depot from which
the pack train could operate.
Equipped for winter, the men dis
played but little that reSembled stan
dard army uniform or equipment:
Each man wore pair OF close-fitting
lambs wool socks. over which was an
other pair reaching above the knees
Indian buckskin moccasins encased the
legs well up; they were preferred to
boots because they were lighter and
warmer. Cork soles were worn in the
moccasins. Then came an overboot OF
buffalo hide, hair side in, reaching
the whole length of the leg; the sides
were tied or buckled for convenience,
and the foot part was soled, boxed
and heeled with leather. Underwear
was merino and perforated buckskin
A blue flannel double breasted shirt
was worn under a double-breaSted
blouse of Mission or Minnesota blan-
ket. Overcoats were of beaver, buck
skin or st. Paul canvas, lined with
heavy blanket. Caps were of cloth with
fur ear pieces. Overcoats had fur COL
lars large enough to cover the head
and face.
Bedding included buffalo robes, can
vas tarps and blankets. AS long as the
column was accompanied by the wagon
train all officers and men had plenty
of warm bedding and pup tents.
The wagon train was left at the site
OF Fort Reno, one of the army posts