Too little stress has been laid upon the values accruing to the safety and
success of the United States troops, in their warfare on the western
frontier, from the services of Indian scouts.
A wild and often inaccessible country to traverse, with none of the aids
of electricity or modern travel; with difficult mountain ranges to climb,
blinding blizzards and insufferable cold, blistering heat, and the hazards
of unknown rivers to cross through banks of perilous quicksands;
stupendous distances to travel, and all the time an alert, wily, and
masterful foe lurking in any one of ten thousand impregnable coverts—this
is a hint of the scout’s life. These brave and tireless scouts led not to
ambush but to the advantage of our men at arms. Estimate the bravery, the
sagacity, the perseverance, the power of endurance displayed by these
Indian scouts, and their superlative service will call for our patriotic
gratitude. No trial of strength and endurance, no test of bravery, no
audacity of peril, hindered or made them afraid. They were more important
than guns and munitions of war. The Crows made the best scouts, for two
reasons: They had never taken up arms against the whites; all the
neighbouring tribes battled against the Crows for the conquest of their
land. The Crow scouts, therefore, aided the United States soldiers to
conquer and drive out their hereditary foes that they might preserve their
land and their homes. It was therefore not only a fight of fidelity and
fealty but of preservation—Nature’s strongest law.
Our story is now concerned with the four surviving scouts who led the
United States soldiers in many campaigns under Crook, Terry, Miles,
Howard, and finally Custer. The Indians who piloted Long Hair to the
great Sioux camp in the valley of the Little Big Horn—the last day of life
for Custer, the last contest at arms for the Indians—are now old men, and
their own life record is full of thrilling interest.
[White Man Runs Him—Custer Scout]