spot where the Indians had camped the day before. We could see that their
village was a very large one, consisting of about five hundred lodges; and
we pushed forward rapidly from this point on the trail which ran back
toward Prairie Dog Creek. About two o'clock we came in sight of the
retreating village, and soon the warriors turned back to give us battle.
They set fire to the prairie grass in front of us and on all sides in
order to delay us as much as possible. We kept up a running fight for the
remainder of the afternoon, and the Indians repeatedly attempted to lead
us off the track of their flying village; but their trail was easily
followed, as they were continually dropping tepee-poles, camp-kettles,
robes, furs, and all heavy articles belonging to them. They were evidently
scattering, and it finally became difficult for us to keep on the main
trail. When darkness set in we went into camp, it being useless to try to
follow the Indians after nightfall.
Next morning we were again on the trail. The Indians soon scattered in
every direction, but we followed the main trail to the Republican River,
where we made a cut-off, and then went north toward the Platte River. We
found, however, that the Indians by traveling night and day had got a
long start, and the General concluded that it was useless to follow them
any farther.
The General told me that the next day's march would be toward the
headwaters of the Beaver, and asked me the distance. I replied that it was
about twenty-five miles, and he said he would make it the next day.
Getting an early start in the morning, we struck out across the prairie,
my position as guide being ahead of the advance guard. About two o'clock
General Carr overtook me, and asked me how far I supposed it was to water.
I thought it was about eight miles, although we could see no sign or
indication of any stream in front.
"Pepoon's scouts say you are going in the wrong direction," said the
General; "and in the way you are bearing it will be fifteen miles before
you can strike any of the branches of the Beaver; and that when you do,
you will find no water, for the Beavers are dry at this time of the year
at that point."
"General, I think the scouts are mistaken," said I, "for the Beaver has
more water near its head than it has below; and at the place where we will
strike the stream we will find immense beaver dams, large enough and
strong enough to cross the whole command, if you wish."
"Well, Cody, go ahead," said he; "I'll leave it to you; but remember that
I don't want a dry camp."
"No danger of that," said I; and then I rode on, leaving him to return to
the command. As I had predicted, we found water seven or eight miles
farther on, where we came upon a beautiful little stream, a tributary of
the Beaver, hidden in the hills. We had no difficulty in selecting a good
halting-place, and obtaining fresh spring water and grass. The General,
upon learning from me that the stream--which was only eight or nine miles
long--had no name, took out his map and located it, and named it Cody's
Creek, which name it still bears.
We pulled out early next morning for the Beaver, and when we were
approaching the stream I rode on ahead of the advance guard in order to
find the crossing. Just as I turned a bend of the creek, "bang!" went a
shot, and down went my horse--myself with him. I disentangled myself, and
jumped behind the dead body. Looking in the direction whence the shot had
come I saw two Indians, and at once turned my gun loose on them, but in
the excitement of the moment I missed my aim. They fired two or three more
shots, and I returned the compliment, wounding one of their horses.
On the opposite side of the creek, going over the hill, I observed a few
lodges moving rapidly away, and also some mounted warriors, who could see
me, and who kept blazing away with their guns. The two Indians who had
fired at me, and had killed my horse, were retreating across the creek on
a beaver dam. I sent a few shots after them to accelerate their speed, and
also fired at the ones on the other side of the stream. I was undecided as
to whether it was best to run back to the command on foot or hold my
position. I knew that within a few minutes the troops would come up, and I
therefore decided to hold my position. The Indians, seeing that I was
alone, turned, and charged down the hill, and were about to recross the
creek to corral me, when the advance guard of the command put in an
appearance on the ridge, and dashed forward to my rescue. The redskins
whirled and made off.
When General Carr came up, he ordered Company I to go in pursuit of the
band. I accompanied Lieutenant Brady, who commanded, and we had a running
fight with the Indians, lasting several hours. We captured several head of
their horses and most of their lodges. At night we returned to the
command, which by this time had crossed the creek on the beaver dam.
We scouted for several days along the river, and had two or three lively
skirmishes. Finally our supplies began to run low, and General Carr gave
orders to return to Fort Wallace, which we reached three days afterward,
and where we remained several days.
Very soon after, General Carr received orders from General Sheridan for a
winter's campaign in the Canadian River country, instructing him to
proceed at once to Fort Lyon, Colorado, and there to fit out for the
expedition. Leaving Fort Wallace in November, 1868, we arrived at Fort
Lyon in the latter part of the month without special incident, and at
once began our preparations for invading the enemy's country. General
Penrose had left his post three weeks previously with a command of some
three hundred men. He had taken no wagons with him, and his supply train
was composed only of pack mules. General Carr was ordered to follow with
supplies on his trail and overtake him as soon as possible. I was
particularly anxious to catch up with Penrose's command, as my old friend
Wild Bill was among his scouts. We followed the trail very easily for the
first three days, and then we were caught in Freeze-Out Canyon by a
fearful snowstorm, which compelled us to go into camp for a day. The
ground now being covered with snow, we found it would be impossible to
follow Penrose's trail any farther, especially as he had left no sign to
indicate the direction he was going. General Carr sent for me, and said
that as it was very important that we should not lose the trail, he wished
that I would take some scouts with me, and while the command remained in
camp, push on as far as possible, and see if I could not discover some
traces of Penrose or where he had camped at any time.
Accompanied by four men, I started out in the blinding snowstorm, taking a
southerly direction. We rode twenty-four miles, and upon reaching a
tributary of the Cimarron, we scouted up and down the stream for a few
miles, and finally found one of Penrose's old camps. It was now late in
the afternoon, and as the command would come up the next day, it was not
necessary for all of us to return with the information to General Carr. So
riding down into a sheltered place in the bend of the creek, we built a
fire and broiled some venison from a deer which we had shot during the
day, and after eating a substantial meal, I left the four men there while
I returned to bring up the troops.
It was eleven o'clock at night when I got back to the camp. A light was
still burning in the General's tent, he having remained awake, anxiously
awaiting my return. He was glad to see me, and was overjoyed at the
information I brought, for he had great fears concerning the safety of
General Penrose.
The command took up its march next day for the Cimarron, and had a hard
tramp of it on account of the snow having drifted to a great depth in many
of the ravines, and in some places the teamsters had to shovel their way
through. We arrived at the Cimarron at sundown, and went into camp. Upon
looking around next morning, we found that Penrose, having been
unencumbered by wagons, had kept on the west side of the Cimarron, and the
country was so rough that it was impossible for us to stay on his trail
with our wagons; but knowing that we would certainly follow down the
river, General Carr concluded to take the best wagon route along the
stream, which I discovered to be on the east side. Before we could make
any headway with our wagon train we had to leave the river and get out on
the divide. We were very fortunate that day in finding a splendid road for
some distance, until we were all at once brought to a standstill on a high
tableland, overlooking a beautiful winding creek that lay far below us in
the valley. The question that troubled us was how we were to get the
wagons down. We were now in the foothills of the Rattoon Mountains, and
the bluff we were on was very steep.
"Cody, we're in a nice fix now," said General Carr.
"Oh, that's nothing," was my reply.
"But you can never take the train down," said he.
"Never you mind the train, General. You say you are looking for a good
camp. How does that beautiful spot down in the valley suit you?" I asked
him.
"That will do. I can easily descend with the cavalry, but how to get the
wagons down there is a puzzler to me," said he.
"By the time you are located in your camp, your wagons shall be there,"
said I.
"All right, Cody, I'll leave it to you, as you seem to want to be boss,"
he replied, pleasantly. He at once ordered the command to dismount and
lead the horses down the mountain side. The wagon train was a mile in the
rear, and when it came up one of the drivers asked, "How are we going down
there?"
"Run down, slide down, or fall down; any way to get down," said I.
"We can never do it; it's too steep; the wagons will run over the mules,"
said another wagon master.
"I guess not; the mules have got to keep out of the way," was my reply.
I told Wilson, the chief wagon master, to bring on his mess wagon, which
was at the head of the train, and I would try the experiment at least.
Wilson drove the team and wagon to the brink of the hill, and following my
directions he brought out some extra chains with which we locked the
wheels on each side, and then rough-locked them. We now started the wagon
down the hill. The wheel horses--or rather the wheel mules--were good on
the hold back, and we got along finely until we nearly reached the bottom,
when the wagon crowded the mules so hard that they started on a run and
galloped down into the valley and to the place where General Carr had
located his camp. Three other wagons immediately followed in the same way,
and in half an hour every wagon was in camp, without the least accident
having occurred. It was indeed an exciting sight to see the six mule teams
come straight down the mountain and finally break into a full run. At
times it looked as if the wagons would turn a somersault and land on the
mules.
[Illustration: I DISENTANGLED MYSELF AND JUMPED BEHIND THE DEAD BODY OF
THE HORSE.]
This proved to be a lucky march for us, as far as gaining on Penrose was
concerned; for the route he had taken on the west side of the stream
turned out to be a bad one, and we went with our immense wagon train as
far in one day as Penrose had in seven. His command had marched on to a
plateau or high tableland so steep that not even a pack mule could descend
it, and he was obliged to retrace his steps a long way, thus losing three
days' time, as we afterward learned.
From this point on, for several days, we had no trouble in following
Penrose's trail, which led us in a southeasterly direction toward the
Canadian River. No Indians were seen, nor any signs of them found. One
day, while riding in advance of the command down San Francisco Creek, I
heard some one calling my name from a little bunch of willow brush on the
opposite bank, and upon looking closely at the spot, I saw a negro.
"Sakes alive! Massa Bill, am dat you?" asked the man, whom I recognized as
one of the colored soldiers of the Tenth Cavalry. I next heard him say to
some one in the brush: "Come out o' heah. Dar's Massa Buffalo Bill." Then
he sang out, "Massa Bill, is you got any hawdtack?"
"Nary a hardtack; but the wagons will be along presently, and then you can
get all you want," said I.
"Dat's de best news I's heerd foah sixteen long days, Massa Bill," said
he.
"Where's your command? Where's General Penrose?" I asked.
"I dun'no'," said the darky; "we got lost and we's been starvin' eber
since."
By this time two other negroes had emerged from their place of
concealment. They had deserted Penrose's command--which was out of rations
and nearly in a starving condition--and were trying to make their way back
to Fort Lyon. General Carr concluded, from what they could tell him, that
General Penrose was somewhere on Palladora Creek; but we could not learn
anything definite, for they knew not where they were themselves.
Having learned that General Penrose's troops were in such bad shape,
General Carr ordered Major Brown to start out the next morning with two
companies of cavalry and fifty pack mules loaded with provisions, and to
make all possible speed to reach and relieve the suffering soldiers. I
accompanied this detachment, and on the third day out we found the
half-famished soldiers camped on the Palladora. The camp presented a
pitiful sight, indeed. For over two weeks the men had had only quarter
rations, and were now nearly starved to death. Over two hundred horses and
mules were lying dead, having died from fatigue and starvation. General
Penrose, fearing that General Carr would not find him, had sent back a
company of the Seventh Cavalry to Fort Lyon for supplies; but no word had
as yet been heard from them. The rations which Major Brown brought to the
command came none too soon, and were the means of saving many lives.
General Carr, upon arriving with his force, took command of all the
troops, he being the senior officer and ranking General Penrose. After
selecting a good camp, he unloaded the wagons and sent them back to Fort
Lyon for fresh supplies. He then picked out five hundred of the best men
and horses, and, taking his pack train with him, started south for the
Canadian River, leaving the rest of the troops at the supply camp.
For several days we scouted along the Canadian River, but found no signs
of Indians. General Carr then went back to his camp, and soon afterward
our wagon train came in from Fort Lyon with a fresh load of provisions. At
length, our horses and mules having become sufficiently recruited to
return, we returned to Fort Lyon, arriving there in March, 1869, where the
command was to rest and recruit for thirty days before proceeding to the
Department of the Platte, whither it had been ordered.
III
PURSUING THE SIOUX
When the Fifth Cavalry was ordered to the Department of the Platte, we
moved from Fort Wallace down to Sheridan, and in a few days started on
another expedition after the hostile Indians. The second day out, on
reaching the North Fork of the Beaver and riding down the valley toward
the stream, I suddenly discovered a large fresh Indian trail. On
examination I found it to be scattered all over the valley on both sides
of the creek, as if a very large village had recently passed that way.
Judging from the size of the trail, I thought that there could not be less
than four hundred lodges, or between twenty-five hundred and three
thousand warriors, women, and children in the band. I galloped back to the
command, distant about three miles, and reported the news to General Carr,
who halted the regiment, and after consulting a few minutes, ordered me
to select a ravine, or as low ground as possible, so that he could keep
the troops out of sight until we could strike the creek.
We went into camp on the Beaver, and the General ordered Lieutenant Ward
to take twelve men and myself and follow up the trail for several miles,
and find out how fast the Indians were traveling. I was soon convinced, by
the many camps they had made, that they were traveling slowly, and hunting
as they journeyed. We went down the Beaver on this scout about twelve
miles, keeping our horses well concealed under the banks of the creek, so
as not to be discovered.
At this point, Lieutenant Ward and myself, leaving our horses behind us,
crawled to the top of a high knoll, where we could have a good view for
some miles distant down the stream. We peeped over the summit of the hill,
and not over three miles away we could see a whole Indian village in plain
sight, and thousands of ponies grazing around on the prairie. Looking over
to our left, on the opposite side of the creek we observed two or three
parties of Indians coming in, loaded down with buffalo meat.
"This is no place for us, Lieutenant," said I; "I think we have important
business at the camp to attend to as soon as possible."
"I agree with you," said he, "and the quicker we get there the better it
will be for us."
We quickly descended the hill and joined the men below. Lieutenant Ward
hurriedly wrote a note to General Carr, and handing it to a corporal,
ordered him to make all possible haste back to the command and deliver the
message. The man started off on a gallop, and Lieutenant Ward said, "We
will march slowly back until we meet the troops, as I think the General
will soon be here, for he will start immediately upon receiving my note."
In a few minutes we heard two or three shots in the direction in which our
dispatch courier had gone, and soon after we saw him come running around
the bend of the creek, pursued by four or five Indians. The Lieutenant,
with his squad of soldiers and myself, at once charged upon them, when
they turned and ran across the stream.
"This will not do," said Lieutenant Ward; "the whole Indian village will
now know that soldiers are near by."
"Lieutenant, give me that note, and I will take it to the General," said
I.
He gladly handed me the dispatch, and spurring my horse I dashed up the
creek. After having ridden a short distance, I observed another party of
Indians, also going to the village with meat; but instead of waiting for
them to fire upon me, I gave them a shot at long range. Seeing one man
firing at them so boldly, it surprised them, and they did not know what to
make of it. While they were thus considering, I got between them and our
camp. By this time they had recovered from their surprise, and cutting
their buffalo meat loose from their horses, they came after me at the top
of their speed; but as their steeds were tired out, it did not take me
long to leave them far in the rear.
I reached the command in less than an hour, delivered the dispatch to
General Carr, and informed him of what I had seen. He instantly had the
bugler sound "boots and saddles," and all the troops, with the exception
of two companies which we left to guard the train, were soon galloping in
the direction of the Indian camp.
We had ridden about three miles, when we met Lieutenant Ward, who was
coming slowly toward us. He reported that he had run into a party of
Indian buffalo hunters, and had killed one of the number, and had had one
of his horses wounded. We immediately pushed forward, and after marching
about five miles came within sight of hundreds of mounted Indians
advancing up the creek to meet us. They formed a complete line in front of
us. General Carr, being desirous of striking their village, ordered the
troops to charge, break through their line, and keep straight on. This
movement would no doubt have been successfully accomplished had it not
been for the rattle-brained and dare-devil French Lieutenant Schinosky,
commanding Company B, who, misunderstanding General Carr's orders, charged
upon some Indians at the left, while the rest of the command dashed
through the enemy's line, and was keeping straight on, when it was
observed that Schinosky and his company were surrounded by four or five
hundred Indians. The General, to save the company, was obliged to sound a
halt and charge back to the rescue. The company during this short fight
had several men and quite a number of horses killed.
All this took up valuable time, and night was coming on. The Indians were
fighting desperately to keep us from reaching their village, which, being
informed by couriers of what was taking place, was packing up and getting
away. During that afternoon it was all that we could do to hold our own in
fighting the mounted warriors, who were in our front and contesting every
inch of the ground. The General had left word for our wagon train to
follow up with its escort of two companies, but as it had not made its
appearance, he entertained some fears that it had been surrounded, and to
prevent the possible loss of the supply train we had to go back and look
for it. About nine o'clock that evening we found it and went into camp for
the night.
Early the next day we broke camp and passed down the creek, but there was
not an Indian to be seen. They had all disappeared and gone on with their
village. Two miles farther we came to where a village had been located,
and here we found nearly everything belonging to or pertaining to an
Indian camp, which had been left in the great hurry to get away. These
articles were all gathered up and burned. We then pushed out on the trail
as fast as possible. It led us to the northeast toward the Republican; but
as the Indians had a night the start of us, we entertained but little hope
of overtaking them that day. Upon reaching the Republican in the afternoon
the General called a halt, and as the trail was running more to the east,
he concluded to send his wagon train on to Fort McPherson by the most
direct route, while he would follow on the trail of the redskins.
Next morning at daylight we again pulled out, and were evidently gaining
rapidly on the Indians, for we could occasionally see them in the
distance. About eleven o'clock that day, while Major Babcock was ahead of
the main command with his company, and while we were crossing a deep
ravine, we were surprised by about three hundred warriors, who commenced a
lively fire upon us. Galloping out of the ravine on to the rough prairie,
the men dismounted and returned the fire. We soon succeeded in driving the
Indians before us and were so close to them at one time that they
abandoned and threw away nearly all their lodges and camp equipage, and
everything that had any considerable weight. They left behind them their
played-out horses, and for miles we could see Indian furniture strewn
along in every direction. The trail became divided, and the Indians
scattered in small bodies all over the prairie. As night was approaching
and our horses were about giving out, a halt was called. A company was
detailed to collect all the Indian horses running loose over the country,
and to burn the other Indian property.
The command being nearly out of rations, I was sent to the nearest point,
old Fort Kearny, about sixty miles distant, for supplies.
Shortly after we reached Fort McPherson, which continued to be the
headquarters of the Fifth Cavalry for some time, we fitted out for a new
expedition to the Republican River country, and were re-enforced by three
companies of the celebrated Pawnee Indian scouts, commanded by Major Frank
North. General Carr recommended at this time to General Augur, who was in
command of the department, that I be made chief of scouts in the
Department of the Platte, and informed me that in this position I would
receive higher wages than I had been getting in the Department of the
Missouri. This appointment I had not asked for.
I made the acquaintance of Major Frank North, and I found him and his
officers perfect gentlemen, and we were all good friends from the very
start. The Pawnee scouts had made quite a reputation for themselves, as
they had performed brave and valuable services in fighting against the
Sioux, whose bitter enemies they were; being thoroughly acquainted with
the Republican and Beaver country, I was glad that they were to be with
the expedition, and my expectation of the aid they would render was not
disappointed.
During our stay at Fort McPherson I made the acquaintance of Lieutenant
George P. Belden, known as the "White Chief." I found him to be an
intelligent, dashing fellow, a splendid rider, and an excellent shot. An
hour after our introduction he challenged me for a rifle match, the
preliminaries of which were soon arranged. We were to shoot ten shots each
for fifty dollars, at two hundred yards, off-hand. Belden was to use a
Henry rifle, while I was to shoot my old "Lucretia." This match I won, and
then Belden proposed to shoot a one-hundred-yard match, as I was shooting
over his distance. In this match Belden was victorious. We were now even,
and we stopped right there.