Browning chief. [volume] (Browning, Mont.) 1941-1953, 1942-05-29
Two Johns--Phillips and Golfer, Were Pair :
Of Toughe Hombres Early West Produced :

II you set about 70 list the names
Of the pioneer northwest's bravest
men, you have to include . couple
Of Johns-John tPortuxee) Phillips
and John Golfer. Here were two
adventurous souls as cool as clans
and calculating as foxes In the
face Of danger. Peril never deferred
them. II goaded them on. The more
hazardous an enterprise was, the
better they liked il.
Golfer. member of the Lewis and
Clark expedition and discoverer of
YELLOWSTONE park, was IN the west more
than half a century ahead of Phillips
and for sheer dare-deviltry was prob
ably the superior of all western from
tiersmen. He was the youngest member
Of the Lewis and Clark party-a strip
ling of but 16 summers, but he had the
heart of lion. When still mere
youth he got into jams that would chill
the soul of Spartan, but he constant
ly came back for more.
Phillips rode to lasting fame on the
back of a thoroughbred horse-rode
from Fort Phil Kearney to Fort Lara
mic, 230 miles, in sub-zero blizzard
bearing the news of the Fetterman
massacre. There has never been an
other ride parallel to it. Paul Revere's
trip, lauded in song and story, was a
mere trot through the park by COM
pariSOn. The country was alive with
deathdealing Sioux and the wind was
sharp as a razor but Portugee Phillips
riding by night and concealing himself
in the woods by day. got through to
his destination.
The stout-hearted horse, given tC
Portugee for the trip by Gen. Henry
B. Darlington. commanding officer al
Fort Phil Kearney, fell dead as soon
as his rider reeled from the saddle
Phillips was nearer dead than alive
himself.
He Disrupts the Party
1t was close to midnight on Christ
mas night, 1866, when Phillips arrived
at Fort Laramie. The mercury was
standing at Is degrees below zero. and
brilliant Christmas party was In full
swing at the building used as the Of
ftcers' clubhouse. Phillips lurched into
the room, laundering figure in buff
falo-skin coat, with buffalo boots, car
and gauntlets. Icicles hung from his
beard and he was covered with snow
He barely had strength to deliver
his message when he slumped uncon-
scious to the floor from the fierce
privation, exposure and eXertion which
he had faced so bravely.
Phillips didn't have to make that
terrible trip. He volunteered. Some
body had to go and he was willing tt
take the risk. without thought of re-
Enumeration. 1t was absolutely essen
tial, after Brevet Lieut.. Col Fettermar
and 80 men had been ambushed anC
slain that reinforcements be obtained
to save the fort, its defenses now re-
duced to bare 119 men, including all
civilian employees. Outside were 3.0O(
eXultant Sioux warriors, awaiting the
opportunity to deliver the knockout
blow at this most hated of forts along
the Bozeman trail.
The terrific Arctic weather probably
saved the fort. AS if to add to the
horror OF the Fetterman disaster the
temperature dropped to more than q
below zero and biting blizzard SWEEP
down out of the Big Horn mountains
So heavy was the swirling snow that
it was necessary. to keep constant
force of men shoveling away the drifts
that formed around the stockade sc
that it would not become sufficiently
high to allow the Indians to climb over
the log barricade.
Phillips Steps Up
The garrisons situation was desper.
ate indeed, with all fearing that al
any moment Chief Red Cloud and his
Sioux braves would launch an attack
Help was vital. and with the least pos.
sible delay.
This was the setup when Darlington
called for a volunteer to ride through
the freezing night-through the Sioux
lines-for help. Phillips. who was in the