_A Phenomenal Capture_
_By_
Captain Robert Goldthwaite Carter
U. S. ARMY
WASHINGTON, D. C.
GIBSON BROS., PRINTERS, 1920
On The Trail of Deserters.
The year of 1871 had been so full of incidents and far reaching results
for the Fourth Cavalry and its new Colonel, Ranald S. Mackenzie, that it
is somewhat difficult to go back into the dim vistas of that period and
select the one incident, or absorbing event which would be either of
greatest magnitude or afford the most thrilling interest--
This capture of ten deserters, however, under circumstances of more than
ordinary importance, since it is believed to be the record capture ever
made in the Military Department of Texas, or, perhaps for that matter,
of any Military Department in the United States--came about as closely
in touch with the writer's life as almost any other experience he ever
had while serving as an officer of that regiment--including, as it did,
terrible exposure, and unavoidable hardships and privations--
Like all of the other Cavalry regiments in our Army, which were then
doing about three fourths of all the active, effective work--the work
that disables or kills--in the subjugation of the savage tribes in the
United States, driving them into Indian reservations, and rendering it
possible for the frontier border to be settled, and civilization to be
advanced to a point where it could feel safe from raids and bloody
incursions, the Fourth U. S. Cavalry, notwithstanding its high morale
and almost perfect state of discipline--had its share of desertions--