THE DEPARTMENT OF THE PLATTE—THE BLACK HILLS DIFFICULTY—THE ALLISON
COMMISSION—CRAZY HORSE AND SITTING BULL—THE FIRST WINTER
CAMPAIGN—CLOTHING WORN BY THE TROOPS—THE START FOR THE BIG
HORN—FRANK GRUARD, LOUIS RICHAUD, BIG BAT, LOUIS CHANGRAU, AND OTHER
GUIDES.
The new command stretched from the Missouri River to the western shores
of the Great Salt Lake, and included the growing State of Nebraska and
the promising territories of Wyoming, Utah, and part of Idaho. The
Indian tribes with which more or less trouble was to be expected were:
the Bannocks and Shoshones, in Idaho and western Wyoming; the Utes, in
Utah and western Wyoming; the Sioux, Cheyennes, and Arapahoes, in Dakota
and Nebraska; the Otoes, Poncas, Omahas, Winnebagoes, and Pawnees, in
various sections of Nebraska. The last five bands were perfectly
peaceful, and the only trouble they would occasion would be on account
of the raids made upon them by the hostiles and their counter-raids to
steal ponies. The Pawnees had formerly been the active and daring foe of
the white men, but were now disposed to go out, whenever needed, to
attack the Sioux or Dakotas. The Utes, Bannocks, and Shoshones claimed
to be friendly, as did the Arapahoes, but the hostile feelings of the
Cheyennes and Sioux were scarcely concealed, and on several occasions
manifested in no equivocal manner. The Utes, Bannocks, and Shoshones
were “mountain” Indians, but were well supplied with stock; they often
made incursions into the territory of the “plains” tribes, their
enemies, of whom the most powerful were the Sioux and Cheyennes, whose
numbers ran into the thousands.
There was much smouldering discontent among the Sioux and Cheyennes,
based upon our failure to observe the stipulations of the treaty made in
1867, which guaranteed to them an immense strip of country, extending,
either as a reservation or a hunting ground, clear to the Big Horn
Mountains. By that treaty they had been promised one school for every
thirty children, but no schools had yet been established under it.
Reports of the fabulous richness of the gold mines in the Black Hills
had excited the cupidity of the whites and the distrust of the red men.
The latter knew only too well, that the moment any mineral should be
found, no matter of what character, their reservation would be cut down;
and they were resolved to prevent this, unless a most liberal price
should be paid for the property. The Sioux had insisted upon the
abandonment of the chain of posts situated along the line of the Big
Horn, and had carried their point; but, in 1874, after the murder of
Lieutenant Robertson, or Robinson, of the Fourteenth Infantry, while in
charge of a wood-chopping party on Laramie Peak, and their subsequent
refusal to let their agent fly the American flag over the agency,
General John E. Smith, Fourteenth Infantry, at the head of a strong
force, marched over to the White Earth country and established what have
since been designated as Camps Sheridan and Robinson at the agencies of
the great chiefs “Spotted Tail” and “Red Cloud” respectively. In 1874,
General Custer made an examination of the Black Hills, and reported
finding gold “from the grass roots down.” In the winter of that year a
large party of miners, without waiting for the consent of the Indians to
be obtained, settled on the waters of Frenchman, or French, Creek, built
a stockade, and began to work with rockers. These miners were driven
about from point to point by detachments of troops, but succeeded in
maintaining a foothold until the next year. One of the commands sent to
look them up and drive them out was the company of the Third Cavalry
commanded by Brevet Lieutenant-Colonel Guy V. Henry, which was caught in
a blizzard and nearly destroyed. In the early months of 1875, a large
expedition, well equipped, was sent to explore and map the Black Hills
and the adjacent country. The main object was the determination of the
auriferous character of the ledges and the value of the country as a
mining district; the duty of examination into these features devolved
upon the geologists and engineers sent out by the Department of the
Interior, namely, Messrs. Janney, McGillicuddy, Newton, Brown, and
Tuttle. The military escort, consisting of six full companies of the
Second and Third Cavalry, two pieces of artillery, and several companies
of the Ninth and Fourteenth Infantry to guard supply trains, was
employed in furnishing the requisite protection to the geologists, and
in obtaining such additional information in regard to the topography of
the country, the best lines for wagon roads, and sites for such posts as
might be necessary in the future. This was under the command of Colonel
R. I. Dodge, of the Twenty-third Infantry, and made a very complete
search over the whole of the hills, mapping the streams and the trend of
the ranges, and opening up one of the most picturesque regions on the
face of the globe.
It was never a matter of surprise to me that the Cheyennes, whose
corn-fields were once upon the Belle Fourche, the stream which runs
around the hills on the north side, should have become frenzied by the
report that these lovely valleys were to be taken from them whether they
would or no. In the summer of 1876 the Government sent a commission, of
which Senator William B. Allison, of Iowa, was chairman, and the late
Major-General Alfred H. Terry, a member, to negotiate with the Sioux for
the cession of the Black Hills, but neither Sioux nor Cheyennes were in
the humor to negotiate. There appeared to be a very large element among
the Indians which would sooner have war than peace; all sorts of
failures to observe previous agreements were brought up, and the
advocates of peace were outnumbered. One day it looked very much as if a
general _mêlée_ was about to be precipitated. The hostile element, led
by “Little Big Man,” shrieked for war, and “Little Big Man” himself was
haranguing his followers that that was as good a moment as any to begin
shooting. The courage and coolness of two excellent officers, Egan and
Crawford, the former of the Second, the latter of the Third Cavalry,
kept the savages from getting too near the Commissioners: their commands
formed line, and with carbines at an “advance” remained perfectly
motionless, ready to charge in upon the Indians should the latter begin
an attack. Egan has often told me that he was apprehensive lest the
accidental discharge of a carbine or a rifle on one side or the other
should precipitate a conflict in which much blood would surely be shed.
Egan has been many years dead—worn out in service—and poor Crawford was
killed by Mexican irregular troops at the moment that he had surprised
and destroyed the village of the Chiricahua Apache chief “Geronimo,” in
the depths of the Sierra Madre, Mexico. Much of our trouble with these
tribes could have been averted, had we shown what would appear to them
as a spirit of justice and fair dealing in this negotiation. It is hard
to make the average savage comprehend why it is that as soon as his
reservation is found to amount to anything he must leave and give up to
the white man. Why should not Indians be permitted to hold mining or any
other kind of land? The whites could mine on shares or on a royalty, and
the Indians would soon become workers in the bowels of the earth. The
right to own and work mines was conceded to the Indians by the Crown of
Spain, and the result was beneficial to both races. In 1551, the Spanish
Crown directed that “Nadie los impidiese que pudiesem tomar minas de
Oro, i Plata i beneficiarlas como hacian los Castellanos.”—_Herrera,
Decade, VIII., lib. 8, cap. 12, p. 159._ The policy of the American
people has been to vagabondize the Indian, and throttle every ambition
he may have for his own elevation; and we need not hug the delusion that
the savage has been any too anxious for work, unless stimulated,
encouraged, and made to see that it meant his immediate benefit and
advancement.
During the closing hours of the year 1875 the miners kept going into the
Black Hills, and the Indians kept annoying all wagon-trains and small
parties found on the roads. There were some killed and others wounded
and a number of wagons destroyed, but hostilities did not reach a
dangerous state, and were confined almost entirely to the country
claimed by the Indians as their own. It was evident, however, to the
most obtuse that a very serious state of affairs would develop with the
coming of grass in the spring. The Indians were buying all the arms,
ammunition, knives, and other munitions of war from the traders and
every one else who would sell to them. On our side the posts were filled
with supplies, garrisons changed to admit of the concentration of the
largest possible numbers on most threatened localities, and the
efficient pack-trains which had rendered so valuable a service during
the campaign in Arizona were brought up from the south and congregated
at Cheyenne, Wyoming. The policy of the Government must have seemed to
the Indians extremely vacillating. During the summer of 1876
instructions of a positive character were sent to General Crook,
directing the expulsion from the Black Hills of all unauthorized persons
there assembled. General Crook went across country to the stockade
erected on French Creek, Dakota, and there had an interview with the
miners, who promised to leave the country, first having properly
recorded their claims, and await the action of Congress in regard to the
opening of that region to settlement. As winter approached another tone
was assumed in our dealings with the Sioux and Cheyennes: word was sent
to the different bands living at a distance from the agencies that they
must come in to be enrolled or inspected; some obeyed the summons, some
quietly disregarded it, and one band—a small one, under “Sitting
Bull”—flatly refused compliance. The Indians did not seem to understand
that any one had a right to control their movements so long as they
remained within the metes and bounds assigned them by treaty.
Neither “Crazy Horse” nor “Sitting Bull” paid any attention to the
summons; and when early in the summer (1875) a message reached them,
directing them to come in to Red Cloud Agency to confer with the Black
Hills Commission, this is the reply which Louis Richaud, the half-breed
messenger, received: “Are you the Great God that made me, or was it the
Great God that made me who sent you? If He asks me to come see him, I
will go, but the Big Chief of the white men must come see me. I will not
go to the reservation. I have no land to sell. There is plenty of game
here for us. We have enough ammunition. We don’t want any white men
here.” “Sitting Bull” delivered the above in his haughtiest manner, but
“Crazy Horse” had nothing to say. “Crazy Horse” was the general, the
fighter; “Sitting Bull” was a “Medicine Man” and a fine talker, and
rarely let pass an opportunity for saying something. He was, in that one
respect, very much like old “Shunca luta,” at Red Cloud, who was always
on his feet in council or conference.
Upon the recommendation of Inspector Watkins of the Indian Bureau, made
in the winter of 1875, the War Department was instructed to take in hand
the small band of five hundred Sioux supposed to be lurking in the
country bounded by the Big Horn Mountains, the Tongue and the
Yellowstone rivers. The inspector expressed the opinion that a regiment
of cavalry was all that was needed to make a quick winter campaign and
strike a heavy and decisive blow. This opinion was not, however, borne
out by the facts. The number of Indians out in that country was
absolutely unknown to our people, and all guesses as to their strength
were wildly conjectural. The country in which the coming operations were
to be carried on was as different as different could be from the rugged
ranges, the broken mesas, and the arid deserts of Arizona.
Topographically, it might be styled a great undulating plain, rolling
like the waves of ocean—a sea of grass, over which still roamed great
herds of buffalo, and antelope by the hundred. It is far better watered
than either New Mexico or Arizona, and has a vegetation of an entirely
different type. There is considerable cactus of the plate variety in
certain places, but the general rule is that the face of nature is
covered with bunch and buffalo grass, with a straggling growth of timber
along the water courses—cottonwood, ash, willow, and now and then a
little oak. On the summits of the buttes there is pine timber in some
quantity, and upon the higher elevations of the ranges like the Big Horn
the pine, fir, and other coniferæ grow very dense; but at the height of
eleven thousand feet all timber ceases and the peaks project perfectly
bald and tower upwards toward the sky, enveloped in clouds and nearly
all the year round wrapped in snow. Coal is to be found in wonderful
abundance and of excellent quality, and it is now asserted that the
State of Wyoming is better supplied with carbon than is the State of
Pennsylvania. Coal oil is also found in the Rattlesnake basin, but has
not yet been made commercially profitable.
Montana, situated to the north of Wyoming, is perhaps a trifle colder in
winter, but both are cold enough; although, strange to say, few if any
of the settlers suffer from the effects of the severe reduction of
temperature—at least few of those whose business does not compel them to
face the blizzards. Stage-drivers, stockmen, settlers living on isolated
ranchos, were the principal sufferers. Both Wyoming and Montana were
fortunate in securing a fine class of population at the outset, men and
women who would stand by the new country until after all the
scapegraces, scoundrels, and cutthroats who had flocked in with the
advent of the railroads had died off, most of them with their boots on.
The Union Pacific Railroad crossed the Territory from east to west,
making the transportation of supplies a matter of comparative ease, and
keeping the various posts within touch of civilization. South of the
North Platte River the country was held by the troops of the United
States, and was pretty well understood and fairly well mapped; north of
that stream was a _terra incognita_, of which no accurate charts
existed, and of which extremely little information could be obtained.
Every half-breed at Red Cloud or Spotted Tail Agency who could be
secured was employed as a scout, and placed under the command of Colonel
Thaddeus H. Stanton, of the Pay Department, who was announced as Chief
of Scouts.
The Sioux and Cheyennes whom we were soon to face were “horse” Indians,
who marched and fought on horseback; they kept together in large bodies,
and attacked by charging and attempting to stampede the herds of the
troops. They were well armed with the newest patterns of magazine arms,
and were reported to be possessed of an abundance of metallic
cartridges. Their formidable numbers, estimated by many authorities at
as many as fifty thousand for the entire nation, had given them an
overweening confidence in themselves and a contempt for the small bodies
of troops that could be thrown out against them, and it was generally
believed by those pretending to know that we should have all the
fighting we wanted. These were the points upon which the pessimists most
strongly insisted. The cloud certainly looked black enough to satisfy
any one, but there was a silver lining to it which was not perceptible
at first inspection. If a single one of these large villages could be
surprised and destroyed in the depth of winter, the resulting loss of
property would be so great that the enemy would suffer for years; their
exposure to the bitter cold of the blizzards would break down any
spirit, no matter how brave; their ponies would be so weak that they
could not escape from an energetic pursuit, and the advantages would
seem to be on the side of the troops.
Crook took up his quarters in Cheyenne for a few days to push forward
the preparations for the departure of the column of cavalry which was to
compose the major part of the contemplated expedition. Cheyenne was then
wild with excitement concerning the Indian war, which all the old
frontiersmen felt was approaching, and the settlement of the Black
Hills, in which gold in unheard-of sums was alleged to be hidden. No
story was too wild, too absurd, to be swallowed with eagerness and
published as a fact in the papers of the town. Along the streets were
camped long trains of wagons loading for the Black Hills; every store
advertised a supply of goods suited to the Black Hills’ trade; the
hotels were crowded with men on their way to the new El Dorado; even the
stage-drivers, boot-blacks, and bellboys could talk nothing but Black
Hills—Black Hills. So great was the demand for teams to haul goods to
the Black Hills that it was difficult to obtain the necessary number to
carry the rations and ammunition needed for Crook’s column. Due north of
Cheyenne, and ninety miles from it, lay old Fort Laramie, since
abandoned; ninety-five miles to the northwest of Laramie lay Fort
Fetterman, the point of departure for the expedition. To reach Fort
Laramie we had to cross several small but useful streamlets—the Lodge
Pole, Horse, and Chug—which course down from the higher elevations and
are lost in the current of the North Platte and Laramie rivers.
The country was well adapted for the grazing of cattle, and several good
ranchos were already established; at “Portuguese” Phillip’s, at the head
of the Chug, and at F. M. Phillips’s, at the mouth of the same
picturesque stream, the traveller was always sure of hospitable, kind
treatment. The march of improvement has caused these ranchos to
disappear, and their owners, for all I know to the contrary, have been
dead for many years, but their memory will be cherished by numbers of
belated wayfarers, in the army and out of it, who were the recipients of
their kind attentions. The road leading out of Cheyenne through Fort
Laramie to the Black Hills was thronged with pedestrians and mounted
men, with wagons and without—all _en route_ to the hills which their
fancy pictured as stuffed with the precious metals. Not all were intent
upon mining or other hard work: there was more than a fair contingent of
gamblers and people of that kind, who relieved Cheyenne and Denver and
Omaha of much uneasiness by their departure from those older cities to
grow up with the newer settlements in the Indian Pactolus. There were
other roads leading to the Black Hills from points on the Missouri
River, and from Sidney and North Platte, Nebraska, but they offered no
such inducements as the one from Cheyenne, because it crossed the North
Platte River by a free Government bridge, constructed under the
superintendence of Captain William S. Stanton, of the Corps of
Engineers. By taking this route all dangers and delays by ferry were
eliminated.
Much might be written about old Fort Laramie. It would require a volume
of itself to describe all that could be learned regarding it from the
days when the hardy French traders from Saint Louis, under Jules La
Ramie, began trading with the Sioux and Cheyennes and Arapahoes, until
the Government of the United States determined to establish one of its
most important garrisons to protect the overland travel to the
gold-fields of California. Many an old and decrepit officer, now on the
retired list, will revert in fancy to the days when he was young and
athletic, and Fort Laramie was the centre of all the business, and
fashion, and gossip, and mentality of the North Platte country; the
cynic may say that there wasn’t much, and he may be right, but it
represented the best that there was to be had.
Beyond Fort Laramie, separated by ninety-five miles of most unpromising
country, lies the post of Fort Fetterman, on the right bank of the North
Platte. Boulders of gneiss, greenstone, porphyry, and other rocks from
the Laramie Peak lined the bottoms and sides of the different dry
arroyos passed on the march. Not all the ravines were dry; in a few
there was a good supply of water, and the whole distance out from Fort
Laramie presented no serious objections on that score. In the “Twin
Springs,” “Horse-shoe” Creek, “Cave” Springs, “Elk Horn” Creek, “Lake
Bonté,” “Wagon Hound,” “Bed-tick,” and “Whiskey Gulch” a supply, greater
or less in quantity, dependent upon season, could generally be found.
Much of the soil was a gypsiferous red clay; in all the gulches and
ravines were to be seen stunted pine and cedar. The scenery was
extremely monotonous, destitute of herbage, except buffalo grass and
sage brush. An occasional buffalo head, bleaching in the sun, gave a
still more ghastly tone to the landscape. Every few minutes a prairie
dog projected his head above the entrance of his domicile and barked at
our cortege passing by. Among the officers and soldiers of the garrison
at Fort Fetterman, as well as among those who were reporting for duty
with the expedition, the topics of conversation were invariably the
probable strength and position of the enemy, the ability of horses and
men to bear the extreme cold to which they were sure to be subjected,
and other matters of a kindred nature which were certain to suggest
themselves.
There, for example, was the story, accepted without question, that the
Sioux had originally shown a very friendly spirit toward the Americans
passing across their country to California, until on one occasion a man
offered grievous wrong to one of the young squaws, and that same evening
the wagon-train with which he was travelling was surrounded by a band of
determined warriors, who quietly expressed a desire to have an interview
with the criminal. The Americans gave him up, and the Sioux skinned him
alive; hence the name of “Raw Hide Creek,” the place where this incident
occurred.
Another interesting story was that of the escape of one of the corporals
of Teddy Egan’s company of the Second Cavalry from the hands of a party
of Sioux raiders on Laramie Peak; several of the corporal’s comrades
were killed in their blankets, as the attack was made in the early hours
of morning, but the corporal sprang out in his bare feet and escaped
down to the ranchos on the La Bonté, but his feet were so filled with
fine cactus thorns and cut up with sharp stones that he was for months
unable to walk.
“Black Coal,” one of the chiefs of the Arapahoes, came in to see General
Crook while at Fetterman, and told him that his tribe had information
that the hostiles were encamped on the lower Powder, below old Fort
Reno, some one hundred and fifty miles from Fetterman. Telegraphic
advices were received from Fort Laramie to the effect that three hundred
lodges of northern Sioux had just come in at Red Cloud Agency; and the
additional information that the supplies of the Indian Bureau at that
agency were running short, and that no replenishment was possible until
Congress should make another appropriation.
This news was both good and bad, bitter and sweet; we should have a
smaller number of Sioux to drive back to the reservation; but, on the
other hand, if supplies were not soon provided, all the Indians would
surely take to the Black Hills and Big Horn country, where an abundance
of game of all kinds was still to be found. The mercury still remained
down in the bottom of the bulb, and the ground was covered deep with
snow. In Wyoming the air is so dry that a thermometer marking zero, or
even ten degrees below that point on the Fahrenheit scale, does not
indicate any serious discomfort; the air is bracing, and the cold
winters seem to have a beneficial effect upon the general health of the
inhabitants. We have no sturdier, healthier people in our country than
the settlers in Wyoming and Montana.
Winter campaigning was an entirely different matter; even the savages
hibernated during the cold months, and sought the shelter of friendly
cliffs and buttes, at whose feet they could pitch their tepees of
buffalo or elk skin, and watch their ponies grazing upon the pasturage.
The ponies of the Indians, the mares and foals especially, fare poorly
during this season; they have no protection from the keen northern
blasts, but must huddle together in ravines and “draws,” or “coulées,”
as the French half-breeds call them, until the worst is over. They
become very thin and weak, and can hardly haul the “travois” upon which
the family supplies must be packed. Then is assuredly the time to
strike, provided always that the soldiers be not caught and frozen to
death by some furious storm while on the march, or after being wounded.
Crook wanted to have our animals kept in the best condition, at least in
a condition somewhat better than that of the Indian ponies. He knew that
the amount of grass to be depended upon would be very limited: much of
the country would be burned over by the Indians to prepare for the new
growth; much would lie under deep snow, and not be accessible to our
horses; much would be deadened by wind and storm; so that the most
prudent course would be to move out from Fetterman with a wagon-train
loaded with grain, which could be fed in small quantities to supplement
the pasturage that might be found, and would keep our mules and horses
in strength and health. A depot would be established at some convenient
point, and from that scouts and explorations into all sections of the
surrounding country could be made by light, swift-moving columns.
Officers and men were informed that so long as with the wagon-train they
would be allowed plenty of warm bedding and a minimum supply of “A” and
“dog” tents, but upon starting out for any movement across country they
would have to do without anything but the clothing upon their backs.
Particular attention was bestowed upon this subject of clothing; and
when I say that the mercury frequently congeals in the bulb, and that
the spirit thermometers at Fort Fred Steele, Wyoming, that winter
registered as low as 61° below, Fahrenheit, the necessity of precaution
will be apparent. The most elastic interpretation was given to the word
“uniform,” so as to permit individual taste and experience to have full
play in the selection of the garments which were to protect from bitter
cold and fierce wind.
Thinking that such particulars may be of interest to a portion of my
readers, I will say a few words in regard to the clothing worn by
different members of the expedition. For cavalry, great care was
demanded to protect feet, knees, wrists, and ears; the foot soldier can
stamp his feet or slap his hands and ears, but the mounted man must hold
his reins and sit up straight in the saddle. Commencing with the feet,
first a pair of close-fitting lamb’s-wool socks was put on, then one of
the same size as those worn by women, so as to come over the knees.
Indian moccasins of buckskin, reaching well up the leg, were generally
preferred to boots, being warmer and lighter; cork soles were used with
them, and an overboot of buffalo hide, made with the hairy side inward
and extending up nearly the whole length of the leg, and opening down
the side and fastened by buckles something after the style of the
breeches worn by Mexican “vaqueros.” These overboots were soled, heeled,
and boxed with leather, well tanned. Some officers preferred to wear the
leggings separate, and to use the overshoe supplied by the
Quartermaster’s Department. By this method, one could disrobe more
readily after reaching camp and be free to move about in the performance
of duty while the sun might be shining; but it was open to the objection
that, on account of the clumsy make of the shoes, it was almost
impossible to get into the stirrups with them.
All people of experience concurred in denouncing as pernicious the
practice of wearing tight shoes, or the use of any article of raiment
which would induce too copious a flow of perspiration, the great danger
being that there would be more likelihood of having the feet, or any
other part of the body in which the circulation might be impeded, frozen
during spells of intense cold; or of having the same sad experience
where there would be a sudden checking of the perspiration, which would
almost certainly result in acute pneumonia. For underwear, individual
preferences were consulted, the general idea being to have at least two
kinds of material used, principally merino and perforated buckskin; over
these was placed a heavy blue flannel shirt, made double-breasted, and
then a blouse, made also double-breasted, of Mission or Minnesota
blanket, with large buttons, or a coat of Norway kid lined with heavy
flannel. When the blizzards blew nothing in the world would keep out the
cold but an overcoat of buffalo or bearskin or beaver, although for many
the overcoats made in Saint Paul of canvas, lined with the heaviest
blanket, and strapped and belted tight about the waist, were pronounced
sufficient. The head was protected by a cap of cloth, with fur border to
pull down over the ears; a fur collar enclosed the neck and screened the
mouth and nose from the keen blasts; and the hands were covered by
woollen gloves and over-gauntlets of beaver or musk-rat fur. For rainy
or snowy weather most of the command had two india-rubber ponchos sewed
together, which covered both rider and horse. This was found very
cumbersome and was generally discarded, but at night it was decidedly
valuable for the exclusion of dampness from either ground or sky. Our
bedding while with the wagon-trains was ample, and there was no
complaint from either officers or men. Everybody adhered to the one
style; buffalo robes were conceded to be the most suitable covering.
First, there would be spread down upon the ground the strip of canvas in
which the blankets or robes were to be rolled for the march; then the
india-rubber ponchos spoken of; then, for those who had them, a mattress
made of chopped cork, of a total thickness of one inch, sewed in
transverse layers so as to admit of being rolled more compactly; lastly,
the buffalo robes and the blankets or cotton comforters, according to
preference. The old wise-heads provided themselves with bags of buffalo
robe, in which to insert the feet, and with small canvas cylinders,
extending across the bed and not more than eight inches in diameter,
which became a safe receptacle for extra underwear, socks,
handkerchiefs, and any papers that it might be necessary to carry along.
In all cases, where a man has the choice of making a winter campaign or
staying at home, I would advise him to remember _Punch’s_ advice to
those who were thinking of getting married.
General Crook had had much previous experience in his campaign against
the Pi-Utes and Snakes of Idaho and northern Nevada in 1866-7, during
which time his pack-trains had been obliged to break their way through
snow girth deep, and his whole command had been able to make but
thirty-three miles in twelve days—a campaign of which little has been
written, but which deserves a glorious page in American history as
resulting in the complete subjugation of a fierce and crafty tribe, and
in being the means of securing safety to the miners of Nevada while they
developed ledges which soon afterwards poured into the national treasury
four hundred millions of dollars in dividends and wages.
On the 1st of March, 1876, after a heavy fall of snow the previous
night, and in the face of a cold wind, but with the sun shining brightly
down upon us, we left Fetterman for the Powder River and Big Horn.
Officers and men were in the best of spirits, and horses champed eagerly
upon the bit as if pleased with the idea of a journey. We had ten full
companies of cavalry, equally divided between the Second and Third
Regiments, and two companies of the Fourth Infantry. The troops were
under the immediate command of Colonel Joseph J. Reynolds, of the Third
Cavalry, Brevet Major-General. His staff officers were Lieutenants
Morton and Drew, both of the Third Cavalry, acting as adjutant and
quartermaster, respectively.
General Reynolds divided his forces into battalions of two companies
each, one pack-train being attached to each of the mounted battalions,
the infantry remaining with the wagons.
These battalions were composed as follows: “M” and “E,” Third Cavalry,
under Captain Anson Mills; “A” and “D,” Third Cavalry, under Captain
William Hawley; “I” and “K,” Second Cavalry, under Major H. E. Noyes;
“A” and “B,” Second, under Major T. B. Dewees; “F,” Third Cavalry, and
“E,” Second, under Colonel Alex. Moore, of the Third Cavalry; “C” and
“I,” Fourth Infantry, under Major E. M. Coates, of the same regiment.
Assistant Surgeon C. E. Munn was medical officer, assisted by A. A.
Surgeon Ridgeley and by Hospital Steward Bryan. The subordinate officers
in command of companies, or attached to them, were Captains Egan and
Peale, of the Second Cavalry, and Ferris, of the Fourth Infantry;
Lieutenants Robinson, Rawolle, Pearson, Sibley, Hall, of the Second
Cavalry, and Paul, J. B. Johnson, Lawson, Robinson, and Reynolds, of the
Third Cavalry; Mason, of the Fourth Infantry.
There were eighty-six mule-wagons loaded with forage, and three or four
ambulances carrying as much as they safely could of the same. The
pack-train, in five divisions of eighty mules each, was under the
supervision of Mr. Thomas Moore, Chief of Transportation, and was
assigned as follows: MacAuliffe, to the 1st Battalion; Closter, to the
2d; Foster, to the 3d; Young, to the 4th; De Laney, to the 5th.
The advance of the column was led by Colonel Thaddeus H. Stanton and the
band of half-breed scouts recruited at the Red Cloud and Spotted Tail
agencies. General Crook marched with these nearly all the time, and I
was so much interested in learning all that was possible about the
northwest country, and the Indians and the half-breeds inhabiting it,
that I devoted all the time I could to conversing with them. Frank
Gruard, a native of the Sandwich Islands, was for some years a
mail-rider in northern Montana, and was there captured by the forces of
“Crazy Horse”; his dark skin and general appearance gave his captors the
impression that Frank was a native Indian whom they had recaptured from
the whites; consequently, they did not kill him, but kept him a prisoner
until he could recover what they believed to be his native language—the
Sioux. Frank remained several years in the household of the great chief
“Crazy Horse,” whom he knew very well, as well as his medicine man—the
since renowned “Sitting Bull.” Gruard was one of the most remarkable
woodsmen I have ever met; no Indian could surpass him in his intimate
acquaintance with all that pertained to the topography, animal life, and
other particulars of the great region between the head of the Piney, the
first affluent of the Powder on the west, up to and beyond the
Yellowstone on the north; no question could be asked him that he could
not answer at once and correctly. His bravery and fidelity were never
questioned; he never flinched under fire, and never growled at
privation. Louis Richaud, Baptiste Pourrier (“Big Bat”), Baptiste Gamier
(“Little Bat”), Louis Changrau, Speed Stagner, Ben Clarke, and others
were men of excellent record as scouts, and all rendered efficient
service during the entire expedition. There was one representative of
the public press—Mr. Robert E. Strahorn, of the _Rocky Mountain News_,
who remained throughout the entire campaign, winter and summer, until
the last of the hostiles had surrendered.