ON GENERAL SULLY'S STAFF
At last, early in March, the long uncertainty respecting the next
season's campaign against the Sioux, and the rumors which had circulated
about it all through the Winter, were terminated by the arrival in St.
Louis of General Alfred Sully, who, so the papers announced, had come to
begin the accumulation of supplies and to make other preparations for
his impending campaign. Brigadier General Sully was the commander of the
District of Iowa, with headquarters at Davenport, in that State; but he
had come to St. Louis directly from Milwaukee. There he had spent
several days in consultation with General Sibley and Major General John
Pope, who was in command of the Department of the Northwest, embracing
the Districts of Wisconsin, Iowa, and Minnesota, the latter under
General Sibley.
General Sully very soon made his presence known at the commissary
office in St. Louis by the requisitions for supplies which began to pour
in from him. A few days later a young army officer, an _aide-de-camp_ on
General Sully's staff, was sent down to the office by the General to
check over the requisitions already made. Al was assigned to assist him.
The aide, whose name was Lieutenant Dale, proved an agreeable youth,
only a few years older than Al, and after their work was finished they
fell into conversation. Al told him briefly of the disasters which had
befallen his family in Minnesota, and then of the battle at Fort
Ridgely.
"Why, you've seen enough fighting to be a veteran already," exclaimed
Lieutenant Dale, when Al had concluded his narrative. "I'll tell you
what you ought to do; you ought to go up into the Sioux country with us
this summer. We're going to have some fun up there. And maybe you could
get on the track of your brother."
"That is just what I want to do," answered Al, "but I'm not old enough
to enlist."
"That makes no difference," answered Dale. "The General could arrange
to take you in some capacity or other if he knows that you have a good
reason for wanting to go and that you won't lose your nerve in a pinch."
"Do you think he would?" asked Al, doubtfully.
"I think it's very probable. Go and ask him. He is very kind-hearted, if
he is a strict disciplinarian and a hard fighter."
"He's a hard fighter, is he?" asked Al, eagerly. "You see, I don't know
much about him."
Lieutenant Dale looked at him pityingly. "A hard fighter?" he replied.
"I should say he is! He fought against the Seminoles in Florida and the
Rogue River Indians in Oregon and the Sioux in Minnesota and Nebraska
and the Cheyennes in Kansas, all before the beginning of the Rebellion.
He won honors at Fair Oaks and Chancellorsville; and then, when the
Indian trouble in the Northwest came, they sent him up into Dakota to
fight the Sioux again, last Summer. That was the first that I was with
him, and we certainly had our share of marching, going up the Missouri
Valley, and our share of fighting at White Stone Hill, where we swung
away from the Missouri and struck the redskins out on the prairie
nearly over to the James River. They had been following up General
Sibley, never suspecting that we would come from the other direction and
fall on their rear. But we'll punish them worse this year, for we shall
have a much larger force; and the General intends to follow them until
they are either forced to make peace or are broken up and scattered all
over the country. And he can scatter them; what he doesn't know about
Indian fighting isn't worth knowing."
"I'm sure it will be a campaign well worth taking part in," replied Al.
"I ought to go, and I hope I can."
"I will speak to the General about you and the reason you have for
wanting to accompany us," Lieutenant Dale said. "Then you come and see
him yourself to-morrow or as soon after as you can."
Al did not delay the visit. That evening he talked with his mother and
uncle about it and, though the former was naturally reluctant to have
him go where she felt he would be in danger, she had also come to
realize that the arrangement afforded the best chance of recovering her
lost son, Tommy. Mr. Colton, after Al had told him of his conversation
with young Lieutenant Dale, concluded that it would be as well for Al to
interview General Sully alone.
"I do not know the General," said he, "and I could influence him but
little; while, if you go by yourself, it will indicate more
self-reliance on your part. I know, of course, that you have plenty of
it, but a stranger naturally would not until he had become acquainted
with you, and it is always well to make a good first impression. I think
you were fortunate in meeting this Lieutenant Dale. He will probably
speak favorably of you to General Sully, and that will help your case."
Accordingly the next afternoon when his work for the day was finished,
Al hurried off to the place where General Sully was making his
headquarters while in the city. He found little evidence of pomp or
ceremony about these headquarters. An orderly was in the outer room, to
whom Al told his name and errand. The soldier replied that the General
was alone, writing letters; and then, stepping to the door of an
adjoining room, he announced Al by name.
"Bring him in," Al heard a deep but pleasant voice answer, and the next
moment he found himself standing, with a somewhat fluttered pulse, in
the presence of General Sully. The latter rose as he entered and
extended his hand.
"I have been expecting you, young man," said he, smiling. "Lieutenant
Dale told me of you last evening, and I had also heard of you before
from General Sibley. I was on the watch for your brother all last Summer
but I couldn't get hold of him. Have a chair," he went on, resuming his
own seat and motioning Al to another one. "Now, what can I do for you?"
As clearly and briefly as possible Al related his reasons for thinking
that he ought to go into the Indian country to assist in the search for
his brother, finishing with the request that he might be taken along in
some capacity and adding that he would try to make himself useful. As he
talked, he was conscious that the General was studying him critically
through the pair of deep-set eyes which, though penetrating, were not
forbidding. When he had concluded, the General did not reply at once.
Instead, he remarked, after a pause,
"General Sibley told me he understood that your father was one of
Doniphan's men. Is that correct?"
Unconsciously Al's shoulders straightened a little.
"Yes, sir," he replied, a touch of pride in his voice, "he was. I am
named for Colonel Doniphan,--Alexander Doniphan Briscoe."
"Indeed?" said the General, with evident surprise and interest.
He was silent a moment, then asked abruptly,
"Do you know anything about tactics,--military routine,--discipline?"
"I have been a clerk in the commissary department here for a year, sir,"
Al replied, "and have become pretty familiar with the Government's
methods of handling stores and more or less so with other matters of
administration. Then I have studied tactics pretty hard, both in the
book and in watching the troops at drill out at Benton Barracks."
"H-m! That's good." The General's voice became decisive. "If you should
go with me you would have to become a part of the expedition and submit
to discipline the same as a soldier, even though you are not enlisted;
and I understand you are too young to enlist. I can have no favored
idlers around. We are going after the Indians and for no other purpose,
and in order to be successful every individual must do his part. Do you
think you could agree to do that?"
"I shall certainly obey orders and try to make myself useful," responded
Al, promptly.
General Sully swung around in his swivel desk chair and gazed
abstractedly out of the window for a moment. Then he swung back again
and looked at Al frankly.
"I may as well tell you," said he, "that it is against my policy to have
any more civilians with me in the field than I can possibly help. Too
many civilians mixed up in military affairs have nearly been the
ruination of the United States during this Rebellion. At the same time,
I like to have young fellows of the right metal; they are often more
useful than old stagers. And I believe you'll do. A son of one of
Doniphan's daredevils, especially a namesake of his, ought to be all
right for courage; and moreover, General Sibley told me of the reports
he heard of your conduct at Fort Ridgely. You see, I know more about you
than you thought." He smiled at Al's embarrassed glance. "I'll find a
place for you somewhere, as a commissary's or quartermaster's clerk,
probably. Come and see me again to-morrow or next day and I'll have it
arranged."
Al thanked him heartily and went away, feeling already a warm admiration
for this firm but courteous soldier. The interview aroused in him more
pleasurable anticipation of the expedition than he had felt heretofore,
and he found himself preparing for it and looking forward to it
enthusiastically.
True to his promise, General Sully had a position arranged for him when
he called next day, and one, moreover, upon whose duties he could enter
at once. He quitted his work as clerk of the St. Louis commissary office
only to continue it in the same place as a clerk for the chief
commissary officer of the Northwestern Indian Expedition. Knowing that
he was to be with them, General Sully's staff officers took an immediate
interest in him, especially Lieutenant Dale, whose friendship proved not
only increasingly pleasant but very helpful as well. Dale was able to
give Al many suggestions as to how best to meet the problems and
situations which constantly arose in his position. There was also a
Captain Feilner, who treated him with much kindness. He was an officer
of German birth who had risen to his position from the ranks of the
regular army and was now General Sully's chief topographical engineer.
For six weeks every one in St. Louis connected with the expedition was
busily occupied in getting supplies together and in shipping several
hundred tons of foodstuffs, clothing, camp equipage, and ammunition on
steamboats which were going up the Missouri on the Spring high water to
Fort Benton, Montana, the outfitting point for the newly discovered gold
district in that Territory. These goods were consigned to Fort Union,
the chief trading post of the American Fur Company, at the mouth of the
Yellowstone River, where a depot was to be established so as to have
supplies ready for the troops when they should reach that point, as it
was planned they should do, after marching overland from the Missouri to
the Yellowstone. Many hundreds of tons more were loaded on the eight
steamers which General Sully had chartered for the exclusive use of his
army, and on them were carried also a great quantity of building
materials for use in the two forts which were to be erected, one on the
upper Missouri and one on the Yellowstone. Few troops were to start with
the fleet from St. Louis, because General Sully's men were either
scattered in the several forts and cantonments along the river in Dakota
where they had spent the Winter, or were to meet the boats at the
village of Sioux City, Iowa; while a large column from General Sibley's
command was marching from Minnesota straight across the high prairies of
Dakota to join the rest of the expedition at Bois Cache Creek, nearly
opposite the mouth of the Moreau River.