Year: 1868

from an Occasional Correspondent.


The day after having left Fort Lyon,
we arrived at what is called Bent's Old
Fort" at present a rancho, but formerly
occupied by United States troops, and
well fortified against Indian attacks. 1t
had been built by Colonel Bent, of the
regular army, whose heirs, it is said, are
still owners of the ground on which it
stands. Colonel Bent married a squaw,
and his children have received first rate
education, and, believe, live in St.
Louis, with the exception of one, called
"Charlie," who prefers the wilderness
and the life of a savage. He is, to this
hour, prominent leader of the Chey-
enne tribe, to which he belongs. He is
foremost in warlike enterprises, bold,
treacherous, cruel and revengeful, like
all of his race. / will probably mention
him again in future letter, for made
his acquaintance afterwards, at a time
when he was at the head of more than
eight hundred of his warriors, and when
, an engagement between them and body
of American troops was imminent and
anxiously looked for by the latter. Bent's
Fort is located on the banks of the Ar
kansas river, where the crossing is
usually effected by the mail coaches, the
emigrants and the military, on their way
to New Mexico. The river was much
higher than it had been for long time,
but our crossing it the next morning be-
came matter of absolute necessity, on
account of a further swelling being an
ticipated in consequence of heavy rains
which had fallen during the previous
week.


1t was impossible to calculate before
hand how long the crossing of the whole
command would take, or whether some
accident might cause serious delay. 1t
became necessary on that account to
commence the crossing at an early hour.
Almost every wagon had been reloaded
the day previous, and such articles as
-four, sugar. clothing. etc, which the con-
tact with water would have spoiled, were
ordered to form the upper part of the
cargo in each wagon, for we were salts
fled that the river was sufficiently swoll-
en- to render such precaution necessary.
An hour after sunrise everything was
ready for the crossing, and two wagon
masters were sent to the opposite shore
in order to make a reconnaissance about
the depth and most favorable direction
tor the teams to take when once in the
water. On the side where we stood the
river bed was not more than three or
four feet deep, but as soon as the animals
reached the middle of the river they had
to swim for a longer distance than was
pleasant to think of, when it is
taken in consideration, that if one mule
became entangled in the harness, the
other seven would be very apt to do the
same and the upsetting of the wagon
with the loss of the animals an inevita-
BILE consequence. Being personally re-
sponsible for all the animals, wagons
and cargo, I had particular interest in
the successful result of the operation
and crossed the river myself five times
on horseback alongside of some team,
which might have required prompt as
sistance. The banks on the opposite
shore being rather steep, it became neces-
sary to hitch eight or ten mules to each
wagon instead Of the usual number of
six, and to send back every animal which
had proved to be good swimmer, for
the balance of the wagons. 1t was
great, very great relief for me, when l
saw the last of the $50 teams coming
safely out of the water, without any
serious accident whatever, for although
the regiment of 500 men was OH the
other side yet, still that was the Colonels
business to see them safely across. Every
horse and mule had to take two men
across on its back, but one man had to
return with every second animal, which
made the matter somewhat complicated
and lengthy; about l o'clock however,
the whole command was together again,
much to the satisfaction of those officers,
who were responsible for men and prop
erty. 1t had not been considered
very safe to cross our families
in wagons, and small, frail rowboat
was found in which it was resolved to
embark the ladies and children. The
surgeon of the regiment, jack at-all-
trades, but efficient in nothing, more es-
pecially not in his vocation, pretended to
be an excellent oarsman and volunteered
to superintend that part of our duties. So
| very quietly ordered my private am
bulance to go across empty, and aban-
doned my wife and two little children
to the doctors care. Several ladies had
already crossed, when one of the oars
broke and only one more was left to han
die the boat. Besides my family, an
other lady, the surgeon and my friend
Captain S., were in the one-oar boat and
the river very rapid, with trunks of trees
or rocks rising here and there out of the
waves. when suddenly the surgeon al
lowed the oar to slip out of his hand,
leaving the frail boat with its live car
go to the mercy of the waves. Another
instant would have drifted it against one
of the aforementioned impediments,
when Captain S, with extraordinary
presence of mind, seized the oar, as it
was floating by and was lucky enough
to recover it just in time to prevent an
accident, which would very likely have
proved fatal.


1t is needless to say that the surgeon
was not complimented in very fattering
terms for his awkwardness.


The first day of our march on the
other side of the Arkansas river gave us
a foretaste of New Mexican soil. Sandy
and comparatively sterile was the region
between that point and Trinidad, town
situated at the foot of the Rattoon, a
chain of the Rocky mountains. The
very day after having crossed the Arkan-
sas, we had the first glimpse of what is
called the Spanish Peaks, at distance
,of almost 2( n m;Ios to Tho nor+Lr,o,.