A LIEUTENANT IN THE UNITED STATES CAVALRY
1854-’61
Most of Stuart’s time from his graduation at West Point until the
outbreak of the War of Secession was spent in military service along the
southern and western borders of our country. During this period, there
was almost constant warfare between Indians and frontier settlers.
Stuart had many interesting adventures in helping to protect the
settlers and to drive the Indians back into their own territory. The
training that he received at this time helped to develop him into a
great cavalry and artillery leader.
The autumn after he left West Point, Stuart was commissioned second
lieutenant in a regiment of mounted riflemen on duty in western Texas.
He reached Fort Clark in December, just in time to join an expedition
against the Apache Indians who had been giving the settlers a great deal
of trouble. The small force to which he was attached pushed boldly into
the Indian country north of the Rio Grande.
[Illustration: CARRYING THE GUN DOWN THE ‘MULEPATH’]
It was not long before the young officer’s skill and determination
received a severe test. The trail that the expedition followed led to
the top of a steep and rugged ridge which to the troopers’ astonishment
dropped abruptly two thousand feet to an extensive valley. The precipice
formed of huge columns of vertical rock, at first seemed impassable, but
they soon found a narrow and dangerous Indian trail—the kind that is
called a ‘mulepath’—winding to the base of the mighty cliff. The
officers and advance guard dismounted and led their horses down the
steep path that scarcely afforded footing for a man and passed on to
choose a bivouac for the night. A little later, Lieutenant Stuart, with
a rear guard of fifty rangers detailed to assist him, reached the top of
the ridge, with their single piece of artillery. Stuart worked his way
down the trail alone, hoping that when he reached the foot he would find
that the major in charge of the expedition had left word that the gun
was to be abandoned as it seemed impossible to carry it down the
precipice. No such order awaited him, however, and the young officer
determined to get the gun down in spite of all difficulties. He noted
well the dangers of the way as he regained the top and, having had the
mules unhitched and led down by some of the men, he unlimbered the gun
and started the captain of the rangers and twenty-five men down with the
limber. He himself took charge of the gun and, with the help of the
remaining men, lifted it over huge rocks and lowered it by lariat ropes
over impassable places until it was finally brought safely to the valley
below.
The major had taken it for granted that Stuart would leave the gun at
the top of the precipice and was amazed when just at supper time it was
brought safely into camp. Such ingenuity, grit, and determination were
qualities which promised that the young officer would develop into a
skillful and reliable leader.
A few days later, the command encamped for the night in a narrow valley
between high ridges. The camp fires were burning brightly and the cooks
were preparing supper when a sudden violent gust of wind swept through
the valley and scattering the fire set the whole prairie into a moving
flame. With such rapidity did the fire sweep over the camp that the men
were unable to save anything except their horses, and in a deplorable
condition the expedition was forced to return to the camp in Texas.
In May, 1855, Stuart was transferred to the First Regiment of cavalry,
with the rank of second lieutenant. In July, this regiment was ordered
to Fort Leavenworth, Kansas; and in September, it went on a raid, under
the leadership of Colonel E. V. Sumner, against some Indians who had
disturbed the white settlers. The savages retreated to their mountain
strongholds and the regiment returned to the fort without fighting.
While on this expedition, Stuart learned with deep distress of the death
of his wise and affectionate father. It had been only a few weeks before
that Mr. Stuart had written to approve his son’s marriage to Miss Flora
Cooke, daughter of Colonel Philip St. George Cooke who was commandant at
Fort Riley. The marriage was celebrated at that place, November 14,
1855.
At this time, there was serious trouble in Kansas between the two
political parties that were fighting to decide whether Kansas should
become a free or a slave state. Stuart, who had been promoted to the
rank of first lieutenant, was stationed at Fort Leavenworth in 1856-’57.
Here he was involved in many skirmishes and local raids. It was at this
time that he encountered the outlaw “Ossawatomie” Brown of whom we shall
hear again a little later.
Stuart passed uninjured through the Kansas contest, and in 1857 entered
upon another Indian war against the Cheyenne warriors who were attacking
the western settlers. In the chief battle of this campaign, the Indians
were routed, but Lieutenant Stuart was wounded while rescuing a brother
officer who was attacked by an Indian.
Here is Stuart’s own account of the fight as given in a letter to his
wife, which she has kindly allowed us to copy:
“Very few of the company horses were fleet enough after the march,
besides my own Brave Dan, to keep in reach of the Indians mounted on
fresh ponies.... As long as Dan held out I was foremost, but after a
chase of five miles he failed and I had to mount a private’s horse and
continue the pursuit.
“When I overtook the rear of the enemy again, I found Lomax in imminent
danger from an Indian who was on foot and in the act of shooting him. I
rushed to the rescue, and succeeded in firing at him in time, wounding
him in his thigh. He fired at me in return with an Allen’s revolver, but
missed. My shots were now exhausted, and I called on some men
approaching to rush up with their pistols and kill him. They rushed up,
but fired without hitting.
“About this time I observed Stanley and McIntyre close by; the former
said, ‘Wait, I’ll fetch him,’ and dismounted from his horse so as to aim
deliberately, but in dismounting, his pistol accidentally discharged the
last load he had. He began, however, to snap the empty barrels at the
Indian who was walking deliberately up to him with his revolver pointed.
“I could not stand that, but drawing my saber rushed on the monster,
inflicting a severe wound across his head, that I think would have
severed any other man’s, but simultaneous with that he fired his last
barrel within a foot of me, the ball taking effect in the breast, but by
the mercy of God glancing to the left and lodging so far inside that it
cannot be felt. I rejoice to inform you that it is not regarded as at
all fatal or dangerous, though I may be confined to my bed for weeks.”
After this battle, all of the force pursued the Indians, except a small
detachment under Captain Foote, which was left behind to guard the
wounded for whom the surgeon established rough hospital quarters on the
banks of a beautiful, winding creek. Here Stuart spent nearly a week
confined to his cot, and as he wrote his wife at the time, the only
books that he had to read during the long, weary days were his _Prayer
Book_ which was not neglected—and his _Army Regulations_. A few pages of
_Harper’s Weekly_ that some one happened to have were considered quite a
treasure.
At the end of about ten days, some Pawnee guides who had been attached
to the expedition brought orders for this little detachment to leave the
camp where it was exposed to attacks from the wandering bands of
Cheyenne Indians and go back to Fort Kearny a hundred miles away.
Stuart was just able to sit on his horse again, yet we shall see that in
spite of his wound he was the life and salvation of the little party.
The Pawnees said they were only four days distant from the fort, but the
second day these unreliable guides deserted and the soldiers were lost
in a heavy fog, without a compass. They were forced to depend on a
Cheyenne prisoner for information. After four days’ fruitless and
difficult marching through the forest, Stuart, who believed that the
guard was willfully misleading them, volunteered to go ahead with a
small force, find the fort, and send back help for those who were still
suffering too seriously from their wounds to keep up on a rapid and
uncertain march.
[Illustration: From McClure’s Magazine
INDIANS OF THE PLAINS]
After many dangers and deep anxiety on his part, taking his course by
the stars when the fog lifted at night and working his way through it as
best he could by day, he finally reached Fort Kearny. The Pawnees had
come in three days before, and scouting parties had been searching for
Captain Foote’s command about which much anxiety was felt. Help was
immediately sent them, and as a result of Stuart’s indomitable will and
able services, the little party was rescued and brought safely to the
fort.
From the autumn of 1857 until the summer of 1860, Stuart was stationed
at Fort Riley. During these three years, there were few skirmishes with
the Indians and Stuart had leisure to perfect the invention of a saber
attachment that he had been thinking of ever since his student days at
West Point. This invention was bought and patented by the government in
October, 1859, while the inventor was on leave of absence in Virginia,
visiting his mother and his friends.
It was on the night of the sixteenth of this same October that a band of
twenty men, under the leadership of John Brown, seized the United States
arsenal at Harper’s Ferry. Brown was a fanatic who believed that all
slaves should be set free and who had taken an active part in the recent
disturbances in Kansas. After seizing the arsenal at Harper’s Ferry, he
sent out his followers during the night to arrest certain citizens and
to call to arms the slaves on the surrounding plantations. About sixty
citizens were arrested and imprisoned in the engine house, within the
confines of the armory, but the slaves, either through fear or through
distrust of Brown and his schemes, refused to obey his summons.
[Illustration: ARSENAL AT HARPER’S FERRY]
The next morning as soon as news of the seizure of Harper’s Ferry spread
over the country, armed men came against Brown from all directions.
Before night he and his followers took refuge in the engine house, but
it was so crowded that he was obliged to release all but ten of his
prisoners.
When the news of Brown’s raid was telegraphed to Washington, Lieutenant
Stuart, who was at the capital attending to the sale of his patent saber
attachment, was requested to bear a secret order to Lieutenant-Colonel
Robert E. Lee, his old superintendent at West Point, who was then at his
home, Arlington, near Washington city. Stuart learned that Colonel Lee
had been ordered to command the marines who were being sent to suppress
the insurrection at Harper’s Ferry, and he at once offered to act as
aid-de-camp. Colonel Lee, who remembered Stuart well as a cadet,
immediately accepted his offer of service.
Upon arriving at Harper’s Ferry on the night of October 17, they found
that John Brown and his men were still in the engine house, defying the
citizen soldiers who surrounded the building. Colonel Lee proceeded to
surround the engine house with the marines; at daylight, wishing to
avoid bloodshed, he sent Lieutenant Stuart to demand the surrender of
the fanatical men, promising to protect them from the fury of the
citizens until he could give them up to the United States government.
When Lieutenant Stuart advanced to the parley, Brown, who had assumed
the name of Smith, opened the door four or five inches only, placed his
body against it, and held a loaded carbine in such a position that, as
he stated afterward, he might have “wiped Stuart out like a mosquito.”
Immediately the young officer recognized in the so-called Smith the
identical John, or “Ossawatomie,” Brown who had caused so much trouble
in Kansas. Brown refused Colonel Lee’s terms and demanded permission to
march out with his men and prisoners and proceed as far as the second
tollgate. Here, he declared, he would free his prisoners and if Colonel
Lee wished to pursue he would fight to the bitter end.
Stuart said that these terms could not be accepted and urged him to
surrender at once. When Brown refused, Stuart waved his cap, the signal
agreed upon, and the marines advanced, battered down the doors, and
engaged in a hand-to-hand fight with the insurgents. Ten of Brown’s men
were killed by the marines and all the rest, including Brown himself,
were wounded.
That same day, Lieutenant Stuart, under Colonel Lee’s orders, went to a
farm about four miles and a half away that Brown had rented and brought
back a number of pikes with which Brown had intended to arm the negroes.
Colonel Lee was then ordered back to Washington and Stuart went with
him. John Brown and seven of his men were tried, were found guilty of
treason, and were hanged.
The John Brown Raid cast a great gloom over the country. While many
people in the North regarded Brown as a martyr to the cause of
emancipation, the southern people were justly indignant at the thought
that their lives and property were no longer safe from the plots of the
Abolition party which Brown had represented. The bitter feelings aroused
by this affair culminated, in 1861, in the bloody War of Secession.