_Captain Seventh Iowa Cavalry_.
The thermometers all this time were from 5 to 10 degrees below zero. On
February 13th telegraphic communication was resumed through to
California, and Mr. Craighten notified the Government of the fact.
An inquiry made of Craighten by General Grant, as to where I was located
(Craighten being a personal friend of mine who was most skeptical at the
start of my accomplishing anything with the material I had, was overjoyed
at our success), was answered, "Nobody knows where he is, but everybody
knows where he has been."
From the 5th to the 13th of February every mounted man on that line was in
the saddle, either assisting the operators or chasing real or imaginary
Indians. The moment a scout came in, instructions were given to the
officers to send them out and not allow any mounted troops in the stockade
until the lines were opened and the Indians driven at least 100 miles away
from the line of telegraph, and the only dashes the Indians made after we
got fairly at them was to cut off a part of an unguarded train, and at
unguarded ranches, and at those stage-stations where only a few soldiers
were located; but in every attack the soldiers stood their ground and
fought, and when driven they only backed far enough to get a secure place.
The troops knew better than to go back to the fortified posts, as they had
instructions to keep to the hills, but in nearly every case they were
successful, and the daring that some of the troops showed in these fights
was remarkable.
Great atrocities were committed by the Indians, scalping the men alive and
abusing the women. This caused the troops to stand and fight, preferring
to die rather than to fall into their hands. Wherever a fight was
successfully made, no matter whether commissioned or non-commissioned
officers commanded, I telegraphed him in person thanking him, and to the
commanding officer of his Regiment, requesting that he be given the first
promotion, and wrote to the Governor of his State.
As soon as this stage-line was opened we concentrated about 500 mounted
men, intending to catch the Indians before they left the North Platte; but
the Indians fled as soon as they heard of this, and did not stop until
they reached Powder River, too far north for us to follow until
arrangements were made for supplies for troops and stock, as everything
had to be teamed from Fort Leavenworth.
The storms during March were very severe. Snow lay two feet on the level
and was crusted so hard that for weeks it was almost impossible to force
animals through it. As soon as we heard from my scouts of the departure of
the Indians and found they had no intention of molesting the citizens of
Nebraska, and had placed themselves on Powder River too far north to
return until the return of the grass in May, I distributed the troops
along the stage- and telegraph-lines to Salt Lake, and returned to open
the South Route to New Mexico.
My experience on the North Route, with the reports from the troops and
from my Indians, soon satisfied me that every Indian tribe of any
importance from the British Possessions in the north to the Red River in
the south, were preparing to engage in open hostilities. These tribes
often pretended to be friendly, deceiving the Government and the Indian
agent, a crafty trick that was impossible to make the Government
understand. For instance, they would go to the Indian agent for
provisions, and would make him believe that they were for peace, and would
promise to bring to the agency their tribe. Probably by the time the
report of the Indian agent reached the Government, this same tribe would
be off on the warpath and have captured a train or murdered some settlers,
and the troops in return had attacked and destroyed them, and we were
called to account for it, as it was claimed by the agents we were
attacking peaceable Indians. This went so far that it prevented me from
opening the southern emigrant trail several weeks. Finally I took the
matter in my own hands, regardless of the action or report of the agents.
While these parleys were going on the Indians suddenly appeared all along
the southern emigrant trail in the Arkansas River Valley, attacking
trains, posts, and escorts. I threw my troops against the bands of
Southern Arapahoes, Cheyennes, Comanches, and Kiowas that were in the
vicinity of the trail. The troops had caught on to the severe fighting on
the Platte, had heard of the new methods of warfare and victories, and
they in all cases stood their ground and defeated the Indians, although
they suffered severely in some instances. This was a reception that the
Indians did not expect and they fled to the Wichita Mountains, suing for
peace, which I knew was simply to prevent us attacking them there, but
accomplished its purpose with the Government and finally brought about the
treaties that were not worth the paper they were written on, and later on
forced the campaigns that Sheridan afterwards made, while if we had been
allowed to have followed them up and punish them as we did the northern
tribes, we would have conquered a peace that would have been a lasting
one.
The Indians of the plains are the best skirmishers in the world. In
rapidity of movements, in perfect horsemanship, sudden whirling,
protecting the body by clinging to the side of the horse, and rapid
movements in open and difficult ground, no trained cavalry in the world
can equal them. On foot their ability to hide behind any obstruction, in
ravine, along creeks, and under creek and river banks, and in fighting in
the open plains or level ground, the faculty to disappear is beyond one's
belief except he has experienced it. In skulking and sharpshooting they
are adepts, but troops properly instructed are a match for them on foot,
and never fail to drive and route them, if they will stand and fight and
never retreat except slowly with their faces to them. I have seen several
times, when caught in a tight place, bands of Indians held by a few men by
holding to ridges and slowly retreating, always using our rifles at every
opportunity when an Indian was in range, never wasting a shot on them
unless there was a probability of hitting them. The Indians have a mortal
fear of such tactics.
In a fight the Indians will select the positions and pick out quickly any
vantage ground, and sometimes as high as 200 will concentrate at such a
point where we could not concentrate twenty men without exposing them, and
from this vantage ground they will pour a deadly fire on the troops, and
we cannot see an Indian--only puffs of smoke. By such tactics as this they
harass and defeat our troops. Many a fight occurred between Indians and
soldiers both watching the smoke to show each other's position. You can
watch this kind of a fight and never see a person unless some one is hit
and exposes himself, when it is nearly always a sure death. The Indian
character is such that he will not stand continual following, pounding,
and attacking. Their life and methods are not accustomed to it, and the
Indians can be driven by very inferior forces by continually watching,
attacking, and following. None of our campaigns have been successful that
have not been prepared to follow the Indians day and night, attacking them
at every opportunity until they are worn out, disbanded, or forced to
surrender, which is the sure result of such a campaign.
The Indians during the months they had been hostile, and especially in
their attacks on the stage-stations and ranches, had captured a large
number of men, women, and children. These prisoners had made known to the
troops, by dropping notes along the trail and through the reports of
friendly Indians, their terrible condition and the usage that was being
made of them. Their appeals to us to rescue them were pitiful.
I knew the prisoners would be sent far north to the villages, and their
winter quarters out of our reach; that these villages were unprotected
because every brave and dog-soldier had his warpaint on and was joining
the hostile forces attacking along our lines, which were increasing every
day. I also knew it would be impossible for any of our troops to reach
them or to rescue them by following them, and as soon as I arrived at Fort
Kearney I asked authority of the Government to enlist and muster into
service two companies of Pawnee Indians, to be under the command of their
old interpreter, Major North, who I knew to be a brave, level-headed
leader. This authority was immediately given me, and Major North was given
confidential instructions to proceed to the Sioux country, apparently on
scout duty, but to watch his opportunity and rescue these prisoners, while
their braves were down fighting us. He started, but storms of snow came
down so heavy that his ponies could get nothing to eat, and during the
latter part of February and all of March these storms were continuous, the
snow falling to the depth of two feet over the entire plains. Major North
was compelled to seek shelter in the river bottoms, and browsed his stock
on cottonwood limbs to save them. In the campaign of the summer and winter
of 1865 and 1866 Major North, with his two enlisted companies, to which I
added two more, made some wonderful marches, scouts, battles, and
captures, and during that campaign we recaptured and had surrendered to us
many of these women and children prisoners.
After the war Major North became manager of the Indians in Buffalo Bill's
Wild West Show, and died in that service. He was a noted man on the
plains. My acquaintance with him commenced in 1856, and together we had
seen and endured many hardships. It was seldom one met his equal in any of
the different phases of plains life. Although he had led an eventful
career, still I never heard him refer to what he had done or accomplished,
or the part he had taken in battles, and probably no man was ever more
worshiped than he was by the two tribes of Pawnee Indians; and his death
was virtually their destruction, for during his life among them he held
them under good discipline and kept them away from vice, diseases, and
war.
A great many amusing reports came to me from my scouts and the captured
Indians. When on the plains in the 50's I was known among the Indians by
the name, in their language, that signified "Long Eye," "Sharp Eye," and
"Hawk Eye." This came from the fact that when I first went among them it
was as an engineer making surveys through their country. With my
engineering instruments I could set a head-flag two or three miles away,
even further than an Indian could see, and it is their custom to give a
practical name to everything. Of course I was not many days on the plains
until it reached the Indians that "Long Eye" was there, and in every fight
that occurred they had me present. They said I could shoot as far as I
could see. The scouts said the Indian chiefs laid their defeats to that
fact. Then again they were very superstitious about my power in other
matters. When the overland telegraph was built they were taught to respect
it and not destroy it. They were made to believe that it was a Great
Medicine. This was done after the line was opened to Fort Laramie by
stationing several of their most intelligent chiefs at Fort Laramie and
others at Fort Kearney, the two posts being 300 miles apart, and then
having them talk to each other over the wire and note the time sent and
received. Then we had them mount their fleetest horses and ride as fast as
they could until they met at Old Jule's ranch, at the mouth of the Lodge
Pole, this being about half way between Kearney and Laramie. Of course
this was astonishing and mysterious to the Indians. Thereafter you could
often see Indians with their heads against the telegraph poles, listening
to the peculiar sound the wind makes as it runs along the wires and
through the insulators. It is a soughing, singing sound. They thought and
said it was "Big Medicine" talking. I never could convince them that I
could not go to the telegraph poles the same as they did and tell them
what was said, or send a message for them to some chief far away, as they
had often seen me use my traveling-instrument and cut into the line,
sending and receiving messages. Then again, most of the noted scouts of
the plains who had married into the different tribes had been guides for
me, and many of these men were half-breeds, and were with these hostile
Indians. Some of them took part with them, but more of them had tried to
pacify and bring them to terms, and they gave me information about those
who were not engaged in the depredations.
I was supposed to be, by the Indians of the plains, a person of great
power and great moment. These half-breeds worked upon their superstitions,
endeavoring to convince them it was useless to fight "Long Eye." No doubt
my appearing on the plains the time I did, and the fact that from the time
I appeared until the time I left, the troops had nothing but success,
carried great weight with them, and seemed to confirm what the old
voyageurs and guides told them, and had much influence in causing their
abandonment of the Platte country and returning to their villages.
My own experience on the plains led me to be just as watchful and just as
vigilant when I knew the Indians were not near me as I was when they were
in sight. In all my travels I never allowed them to camp near or occupy my
camps even in the time of peace, when they were friendly, and I never
allowed myself to knowingly do them an injustice, making it a point never
to lie to them in any of my councils and treaties, or never allow, if I
knew it, the interpreter to deceive them. That brought me respect in all
my dealings with them, and I treated them with respect, courtesy, and
consideration, and demanded the same from them. This, no doubt, was one of
the principal reasons that in fifteen years, more or less, of intercourse
with them, traveling through their country both during the times they were
hostile and at peace, that I escaped many of the misfortunes that befell
others.
Although this short campaign was not remarkable for great battles or large
loss by killed and wounded, still it required great fortitude from the
troops, and often great personal courage, and its success was of great
moment to the Government and to the people of the plains and the Pacific
Coast, for over these three great overland routes were carried the mails,
telegrams, and traffic during the entire war of the rebellion, which did
much to hold these people loyal to our Government. A long stoppage was a
destruction to business, and would bring starvation and untold misery; and
when, with only thirteen days and nights of untiring energy on the part of
the troops in a winter of unheard-of severity, California, Utah and
Colorado were put in communication with the rest of the world, there was
great rejoicing. In seventeen days the stages were started and overland
travel was again safe, after being interrupted for two months, and by
March 1st the commercial trains were all _en route_ to their destinations
and I had returned to my duties at the headquarters of the Department, in
St. Louis.
It was with no little satisfaction that I answered a personal letter
General Grant had written me, when he assigned me to this duty, and which
I found awaiting me on my return to Fort Leavenworth. In his letter he
outlined what it was necessary to do and why he had asked me to take the
field. He judged rightly of the condition of affairs and the necessity of
immediate action. I wrote him how promptly the troops responded to my
call. They had opened the overland routes; they had made them secure and
were then guarding them, and they would be kept open. But after grass
came, unless these hostile Indians were thoroughly chastised, they would
certainly and successfully attack them and prevent safe travel overland,
and from my letter the order soon came for me to prepare for the extensive
campaign of the next summer and winter that followed these Indians to the
Yellowstone on the north and the Cimarron on the south, and conquered a
peace with every hostile tribe.
[Illustration: JAMES BRIDGER