General Gibbon moved as rapidly as his means of transportation would
permit, covering thirty to thirty-five miles per day. In his march
through the valley he was joined by thirty-six citizens who did not
sympathize with the kind treatment their neighbors had shown the
fugitives, but who believed that they (the Indians) should be punished
for their crimes, and who were anxious to aid the troops in
administering the punishment. The pursuing party gathered all possible
information en route as to the rate of speed at which the Indians were
traveling, their numbers, etc., and from the citizens and the camp
sites passed, learned that there were still over 400 of the warriors,
and about 150 squaws and children in the band; that the bucks were all
armed with modern breech-loading rifles, many of which were repeaters;
that they were amply supplied with ammunition, and had with them over
2,000 head of good horses. Gibbon ascertained that he was covering two
of their daily marches with one of his, and the question of overtaking
them, became, therefore, merely one of time.
Near the head of the valley he fortunately secured the services of Joe
Blodgett, an old-timer in this region, as guide and scout, who proved a
valuable acquisition to his forces. The General had been previously
assured that it would be impossible to take his wagons over the high
divide between the Bitter Root and Big Hole Rivers, and had decided to
leave them at the foot of the mountains and proceed with such supplies
as he could take on pack mules; but Blodgett assured him that it would
be possible to cross the range with lightly-loaded wagons, as he had
recently taken such over himself. This proved valuable information, for
the wagons and the supplies they contained were subsequently greatly
needed by the troops.
When, however, the command reached the foot of the mountains and
learned that the Indians had already crossed, a number of the citizens
became discouraged and hesitated about going farther. Their affairs at
home needed their attention. They were already out of provisions, and
as it now seemed doubtful as to when or where the fugitives would be
overtaken, they thought it best that they should return home. But the
General knew that his handful of troops, veterans and brave men though
they were, were scarcely equal to the 400 trained warriors in front of
them, and appreciating the importance of keeping these hardy
frontiersmen with him, he besought them to keep on a few days longer.
He assured them that he was in earnest, and should strike the Indians a
terrible blow as soon as he could overtake them. He told the volunteers
that they should have an honorable place in the fight, if one occurred;
that they might have all the horses that could be captured, save enough
to mount his command, and that meantime his men would divide their last
ration with their citizen comrades. This announcement created great
enthusiasm among soldiers and volunteers alike, and the latter at once
decided to follow their gallant leader until the Indians should be
overtaken, no matter where or when that might be.
Lieutenant Bradley, with eight men of the Second Cavalry, and all of
the mounted volunteers, was now ordered to push on, strike the Indian
camp before daylight the next morning, if possible, stampede the stock
and run it off. If this could be done, and the Indians set on foot,
then their overwhelming defeat would be certain. Lieut. J. W. Jacobs
asked and obtained permission to go with Bradley and share in this
hazardous undertaking. This detachment, amounting, all told, to sixty
men, made a night march across the mountains, while the main command
camped at the foot of the divide on the night of the 7th, and at 5
o'clock the next morning, resumed the march. The road up the mountain,
a steep and difficult one at best, was seriously obstructed at this
time by large quantities of down timber that had to be cut out or
passed around, so that the ascent was very slow and trying to men and
beasts. The wagons were but lightly loaded, and by doubling teams and
using all the men at drag ropes, the command succeeded in reaching the
summit, a distance of three miles, in six hours, and by the performance
of such labor and hardship as only those can realize who have
campaigned in a mountainous country.
[Illustration:
1. LIEUT. J. H. BRADLEY.
2. LIEUT. W. L. ENGLISH.
3. LIEUT. G. H. WRIGHT.
4. LIEUT. C. H. COOLIDGE.
5. LIEUT. A. H. JACKSON.
6. LIEUT. J. W. JACOBS.
7. LIEUT. C. A. WOODRUFF.
8. LIEUT. J. T. VAN ORSDALE.
9. LIEUT. E. E. HARDIN.
10. LIEUT. F. WOODBRIDGE.]
From the summit the road leads down a gentle incline for a mile, when
it reaches the head of Trail Creek, and follows down that stream a
distance of ten miles into the Big Hole basin. It crosses the creek
probably fifty times, and the banks being abrupt, and the road
obstructed in many places by down timber, the progress of the command
was extremely slow and tedious.
While ascending the mountain on the morning of the 8th, General Gibbon
received a courier from Lieutenant Bradley, with a dispatch stating
that, owing to the difficult nature of the trail and the distance to
the Indian camp, he had been unable to reach it before daylight, and
that the Indians had broken camp and moved on. Later in the day,
however, another courier brought news that they had again gone into
camp, after making but a short march, at the mouth of Trail Creek, and
that, not deeming it safe to attack in daylight, Bradley had concealed
his command in the hills, and was now awaiting the arrival of the
infantry.
Upon receipt of this information, Gibbon took his men from the wagons
(leaving twenty men to guard the train), gave each man ninety rounds of
ammunition and one day's rations, and pushed, on on foot, having
ordered that the wagons should come up as fast as possible. The gallant
General with his faithful little band moved quietly but rapidly
forward, but owing to the bad condition of the trail, it was nearly
sundown when they reached Bradley's camp. Bradley informed his chief
that he believed the Indians intended to remain in their camp several
days, for he had secretly observed their movements from the top of a
neighboring hill, and found that the squaws were engaged in cutting and
peeling lodge-poles to take with them for use on the treeless plains of
the buffalo country.
On arriving at Bradley's camp, the men filed into the gulch, ate a
scanty supper of hard tack and raw pork, and, without camp-fires or
blankets, laid down to rest. Having conferred with Lieutenant Bradley
and his scouts as to the best disposition of the proposed attack,
General Gibbon ordered his adjutant to call him at 10 o'clock at night,
and lying down under the spreading branches of a pine tree, slept as
peacefully as a child.
He knew there was bloody work at hand for him and his veterans; that
the rising sun would see them contending against a savage foe that
outnumbered his own command more than three to one; that ere nightfall
many of his noble men, and perchance he himself, would sleep their long
sleep; yet he had a solemn duty to perform. It was a sad one; an awful
one, but it was nevertheless a duty. He and his men were there to fight
their country's battle. They were to avenge the blood of innocent men
and women, whom these savages had wantonly murdered but a few days
before in a neighboring Territory. He had been ordered to strike and to
punish them. He would strike, and the blow would be a telling one. Yet,
in the face of these facts--facts that would chill the blood of any man
unused to wars and scenes of carnage--this old warrior, this veteran of
twenty bloody fields at the South, whereon he had behaved so gallantly
as to receive merited promotion and congratulatory recognition from his
superiors, was as cool, as self-collected, and could lie down and sleep
as peacefully as though no enemy were within a thousand miles of him.
"Thrice is he armed who hath his quarrel just."
This old hero was to compete with a foe greatly his superior in point
of numbers; a foe schooled in craftiness; a foe known and dreaded by
every tribe of Indians in the Northwest; a foe who had stricken terror
to the hearts of settlers and frontiersmen far and near; who had often
camped on the ground he now occupied and knew every foot of it, while
to the troops it was a veritable _terra incognita_.
Yet General Gibbon knew the men on whom he relied for victory. He knew
they would stand by him, no matter what odds they might have to contend
with. Thirteen of his seventeen officers were veterans of the war of
the Rebellion, as were nearly all the citizen volunteers. The other
four officers, and nearly all the enlisted men had seen years of hard
service on the frontier, and had acquitted themselves nobly in many an
Indian campaign. What marvel then that a man of such experience, and
with such a record, in command of such men, and on such a mission,
should feel an assurance of success that would bring sweet sleep to
tired eyelids on the eve of battle?
Lieutenants Bradley and Jacobs did a piece of reconnoitering on this
day for which they deserve great credit. Having failed to reach the
Indian camp during the previous night, when it would have been safe to
undertake to capture or stampede the pony herd; and knowing it would be
rash to attempt it in daylight, it then became important to learn the
exact situation of the village, in order that the commanding General
might be given the most minute information concerning it when he came
up.
Having secreted his command in the woods, therefore, Bradley sent out
scouts in different directions with instructions to proceed cautiously
and stealthily about the valley and ascertain, if practicable, the
actual whereabouts of the Indians.
In about two hours these men returned and reported numerous fresh signs
of Indians in the immediate vicinity, while one of them, Corporal
Drummond, he said had, standing in the timber some distance to the
east, heard voices and other sounds that evidently came from a busy
Indian camp near by, but, fearing he might give an alarm, he had not
gone near enough to the camp to see it.
Lieutenant Jacobs asked Bradley to let him take Drummond, return to the
spot and verify such important information. Bradley replied that they
would both go, and, leaving Sergeant Wilson in charge of the camp, both
officers started with Drummond on foot.
[Illustration: SERGT. MILDON H. WILSON.]
They proceeded with the greatest caution a distance of about a mile and
a half, when the Corporal whispered to Lieutenant Bradley that they
were near the place where he had heard the voices. They were surrounded
by a thick growth of small pine trees, through which it was impossible
to see to any distance. Moving slowly forward, they soon heard the
sound of axes, and inferred that the squaws were cutting lodge-poles in
the very body of woods they were then in.
Creeping along with bated breath; on the alert for every sound or sign;
fearful lest they should make known their presence to the Indians,
bring on a skirmish, and thus avert the purpose of the General, they
scarcely dared breathe.
They finally caught the sound of voices and stopped. Here the officers
held a whispered consultation which resulted in their crawling ahead to
a larger tree that stood about eighty paces in front of them. Still
they could see nothing of the camp, although the sounds came plainer,
and all were impressed with the knowledge that they were treading on
the very crest of a volcano, as it were. Jacobs suggested that they
climb the tree, arguing that as it was taller than those about it, they
might be able to see something interesting from its top.
To this Bradley readily assented, and leaving their rifles with the
Corporal and cautioning him to keep a sharp lookout for any possible
intruders, both officers climbed cautiously and stealthily into the
topmost branches of the pine tree. When they had gained this position,
they halted for a moment in a crouching posture, and then, cautiously
straightening themselves up, found that they were well above the
surrounding foliage, and were thrilled at seeing hundreds of Indian
horses quietly grazing in a prairie almost beneath them, for the tree
stood on top of a high hill. Several herders sat on their ponies in and
about the herd, while others lounged lazily on the ground under the
shade of neighboring trees. A few hundred yards beyond, they saw the
Indian camp where hundreds of warriors were resting and chatting, while
squaws were pitching tents, making beds, carrying in poles, and cooking
the noonday meal.
A brief look was all these brave officers dared risk, for they feared
detection, and hastily lowering themselves to the ground, they lost no
time in regaining their own camp.
A brief dispatch was sent off to the General, the receipt of which by
him has already been referred to, advising him of their discovery, and
the remainder of the day was spent in impatient awaiting his arrival.